What’s on your Bucket List?
It is never too late to chase after your big, scary dreams. What do you still want to do with the time you have left?
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What is one thing you’ve always wanted to do? Usually, in midlife, people start their “bucket list.” You know that list of things you’ve always wanted to do before you die. I’ve always been a goal-setter so I feel like I’ve been chipping away at my bucket list for years. I remember in my 30’s I made a list of things I wanted to experience. It may have been spurred by the movie and not wanting to wait until a dire diagnosis to live a full, adventurous life. The list wasn’t grandiose but included things like riding in a hot air balloon, traveling to France, taking tap lessons, and learning to make a creme brulee, among other things my brain can’t recall anymore. As I am prone to do, I stuck the list in a book and promptly forgot about it. I’ve warned Scott numerous times that when I pass he’s going to have to go through every book we own to find all the treasures I’ve tucked away. Needless to say, I found the list a few years after I wrote it and the strangest thing was that even though I didn’t have it handy as a reminder, I had done everything on that list except for one. That was before manifesting was a buzzword, but I am a firm believer in calling your shot as they say. You’ll never do the things you want to do if you don’t take the time to figure out what those things even are. Life will happily fill your time with work, responsibilities, distractions, and nonsense if you aren’t careful with where you put your attention. It’s even worse now with social media.
I have the cutest little book I’ve had for years called “The Wish List,”* by Barbara Ann Kipfer. It’s a master list of big and small ideas for living an adventurous life. I peruse through it often, highlighting and checking off things I’ve done and things I still want to do. The beauty of it is as you age and change, some things no longer hold any appeal. For instance, in my late 20s and early 30s, bungee jumping sounded fun and exciting. Now at 53, I have no desire to jump off a perfectly good bridge. One thing I have always wanted to do though is to write a book. I’ve been writing my whole life. I’ve kept journals, I’ve written songs, and I blogged about my first marathon training as the miles racked up. I’ve had three ideas for children’s books and started and stopped two novels, one being lost to a hard drive that died. Being a voracious reader just keeps that passion alive as I’ve read many exceptional books that I didn’t want to end and many lousy books that I can’t believe I paid money for. The outstanding books inspire and intimidate me and the inferior ones make me think “Why not me?”
What are one or five things you still want to do? Remember it is never too late to be what you might have been, thanks for the reminder, George Eliot. Start today and share what those big hairy goals are. I will be cheering you on all the way.
