One of my most favorite people in this world is my dad. Ever since I was old enough to walk, we have been best buddies (truthfully, I do not think he was too interested in me until I was able to communicate and was done with the diaper changing thing, ha!). But being a supportive dad, he reads this blog and often likes to offer up his opinion on things. For example, he was quite adamant that I needed to use a different term other than “Bucket List” because as he said, “that is for old people who are dying.” At first, I was like, “yeah ok Dad…” But since then I have given it more thought. The term “bucket list” gained popularity after the movie with came out with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nickolson, whose character was dying in the movie. Since then, I feel like the term and idea has been adopted by all age groups. That said, the term really is about a list of things you want to do before you die. I don’t know about you, but I don’t wake up every day thinking about dying. I wake up thinking about living life to the fullest every day. So my list is compiled of things that will enrich the life that I am living now. When I die, it will not matter to anyone what mountain I climbed, where I traveled, or what career milestone I hit. In fact, when I am dead, I am fairly certain that it will not matter to me either. So what matters is whether I am always working towards bettering myself and the world around me in the life I am living now.
While many people do have a mental “list” of things they want to do or places they want to see, I highly recommend actually writing it down. Not only that, but also putting the list somewhere in plain sight to remind you of your goals and dreams. Life moves quickly and too often you hear people say they wished they had done this or that. After I made my first list when I turned 30 almost a year went by before I realized that I had not crossed anything off the list. How quickly we get wrapped up in the day-to-day challenges and bustle that we easily forget to keep the long-term goals in mind. I have so many versions of my list floating around but I get so much satisfaction in physically crossing them as I accomplish something new.
So if it’s not a bucket list, what is it?
Life List
Life Goals
Living List
Dream List
Achievement List
What do you think, any ideas?!
