Create an Inspiring Bucket List
I am curious if you have a bucket list. How old were you the first time you learned what a bucket list is?
For those who don’t know, it is a term taken from the expression “to kick the bucket” or die and refers to things you want to get done before you do.
Kick the bucket that is.
The first time I heard the expression, I was perhaps in my fifties and had no plans to die or to make a bucket list.
I wish someone had told me more about it, for I didn’t understand how such a list could have opened up my life and inspired me to live in ways I hadn’t dreamed of.
Then I met Linda, a woman who, for her 80th birthday, went to Arizona to jump out of a plane. Skydiving was on her bucket list, and she wasn’t about to skip her opportunity.
She had a video that showed her strapped to the chest of a professional as she floated down over some incredible scenery.
Watching Linda live out the things on her bucket list inspired me to take it much more seriously.
Briefly.
And then life got in the way, and I found myself more in ‘survival mode’ for a season.
What’s the value in such an exercise (keeping a list—not jumping out of a plane)?
The value of a bucket list
Well, for one thing, you won’t get bored, but more than that, you find what you really value, you discover inner strengths, you model Living with a capital L for your family and friends, and it gives them something fun to write in your obituary.
That is unless you decide to write it yourself. A little secret…writing my own obituary is on my bucket list, but that’s another story.
Some day your obituary will have a few column inches that quantify your age, number of children, and career positions. But will it reveal your heart, your wisdom, your passions?
Do you even know them yourself? If you are a journaler or have been in therapy, you may have a handle on your inner self.
Still, if you are more like me, you have spent a lifetime being busy— earning a living, maintaining relationships, and working through roadblocks on the path to ‘growing up.’
How to write a bucket list
With that thought in mind, I challenge you to consider a bucket list before your obituary is published.
List at least 20 things you would like to do…or have thought of doing but didn’t get around to.
Write your list quickly without editing. If you let your inner critic tell you that you’ll never be able to afford that trip or have the courage to dive for scallops, then it will never happen.
Make your list NOT from what is possible or easy or cheap. Just put down everything that comes to mind. The longer the list, the better. Have fun with it. Then let the list rest for a few days or even a month.
Just don’t forget about it.
After time has passed, remove your list and permit yourself to daydream.
Walking El Camino in Spain may never be feasible, but it is ‘dreamable’ if that is on your list.
Read about it. Joanna Penn’s new memoir, Pilgrimage, is excellent! Make a map and decide what you will take.
Join a gym or begin long-distance walks. You may or may not ever take that exact pilgrimage, but I assure you vicarious pleasure is real!
Is a bucket list even possible?
Look at the things you wrote in your bucket list and break each down into small pieces. If a bucket list is done with a sense of adventure, it will tap into areas you may not have considered possible.
What is possible changes every day, like the weather. We can’t do much about the rain or winds except prepare for them with good outerwear…or stay inside by the fire and read the book we have put off for years.
What is stopping you from planning for your bucket list?
Are you afraid you won’t live long enough?
You’ll live just as long whether you do or not. But you won’t have as much fun as I mentioned before.
Lessons I learned
I was in my fifties when I started thinking about a bucket list. But I didn’t do anything then. It had to gestate for a while, a bit like an unplanned pregnancy.
I wasn’t too eager to carry it around, but the thoughts remained when I turned sixty. At seventy, I decided, “Heck, why not. I’m not getting any younger,” and I put the first thing on my list…to write my obit.
Then I added travel, but instead of planning a trip to Europe, I decided to make intentional day trips in my own state. There are places I have never seen in my own backyard. I added ‘build a website’ to my list. I did that. TheReflectivePen.com was something I never dreamed of when I was fifty. Or sixty. There is no age restriction in this frontier!
A couple of other things on my bucket list? To ride an elephant (I may have to settle for a donkey), and, well…you get the idea.
Do you feel too old to climb a mountain? You may be, but if it’s important to you, plan anyway.
Perhaps as you read and watch documentaries and go for walks to get in shape you’ll inspire another—a son or daughter or younger friend to get excited about the possibilities, and they can send you postcards from Mt. Everest.
Many things are impossible until we reframe them. But we have to begin by writing them down.
Put your bucket list in ink, let it rest like yeast bread, and see what arises!
And if you already have a bucket list, tell us something you have learned in the comments.
Be sure you don’t miss the next copy of TheReflectivePen
