Why Everyone Should Have a Bucket List
by Julia A. Keirns
How to keep yourself inspired
We all have dreams and goals. There are places we want to see and things we want to do. Whether it is accomplishing a personal goal, traveling to a certain place, or partaking in a dangerous activity, these dreams and goals are vital to our mental health. We don’t have to be actively dying to create a bucket list. The sooner we begin the list, the more time we have to complete it.
First, create the list.
The first thing we need to do is actually create the bucket list. I am a list maker, so I have written down several things in a normal notebook over the years. It does help to at least write it down somewhere, but one day, while in a bookstore, I found a bucket list notebook. This notebook allows me to write each thing down on a separate sheet of paper and date it. Then when I accomplish the act, I date it and I journal about the experience.
I would suggest putting some of the easier items to achieve at the top of the list and working your way down to some of the harder achievements. If everything on our bucket list is too hard to achieve we will too soon give up on the list altogether. To encourage you, I would like to share my simple bucket list. I hope this gives you some ideas and encouragement.
Get a passport. Check.
This was an easy accomplishment. I went to the post office and picked up an application. I went to Walgreens and had a passport photo taken. It is as simple as filling out the application and taking it back to the post office with the photo and a birth certificate. Then it only took a few weeks to receive my passport in the mail.
Travel to another country. Check.
There is a whole nother story in this one, but I will try to shorten it. We live only 2 hours from Detroit so one Saturday after receiving our passports in the mail, we took a road trip. My only suggestion is that when you cross the border into another country, have a plan in mind. We had no reason to go to Canada other than to get a stamp in my passport, and that is what we told the border patrol agents. That alone caused us to be pulled over, questioned, and searched. When they were done with us they tried to simply send us on our way. I stood there with a dumbfounded look on my face and graciously had to ask for a stamp because that was the only reason I was there. We drove all the way from Detroit to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side and stopped at several places along the way. We had a great weekend in Canada and I successfully got my first stamp in my passport.
Fly on an airplane. Check.
Believe it or not, I had never flown before I started my bucket list. This was also a fairly easy goal to accomplish. Now I have flown several times, and might I say, airsickness is not fun. I always take my Dramamine and now I always request a seat on the wing. My husband took the following picture because he thought it was funny that I was so sick on the plane.
Get a tattoo. Check, check.
I remember when my kids were growing up and hit those rebellious teenage years I made a point to tell them that tattoos were bad. Now I feel like such a hypocrite because secretly I always thought they were cool and wanted one of my own. This was just a personal thing I wanted to do after all the kids were grown and had flown the coop. My first tattoo was small and hidden and only my husband and the tattoo artist knew about it for many years. After a few years though, I wanted a “real” tattoo. One that everyone could see and ask about. There isn’t much personal meaning to either one of them. One is fun, and one is cool. My 88-year-old mother still asks me regularly why I got a tattoo. (She does not know about the hidden one.)
See a bald eagle in the wild. Check.
When this desire started many years ago, I struggled to find any bald eagles. We would drive and travel to places where maybe an eagle had been spotted, but they were so few and far between that the chances of seeing one were slim. Now we have a special place we go to a few times a year and watch up to 70 bald eagles fly in to their roost in the evening. It is almost an hour drive from our house. Bald eagles are abundant now and we see them near our house often. I remember when they were scarce. I hope that never happens again. Everyone should take the time to stand in silence and watch a bald eagle soar in the sky above at least once in their lifetime.
Get a college degree. Check.
This one has been a bit harder to accomplish but it is in the works. At the age of 50+ I enrolled in online college classes and have earned a General Associate Degree. I am now currently working on achieving a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing and English. It is possible for anyone. Don’t ever tell yourself you can’t do something. Anything is possible.
Other items on my list include publishing a children’s picture book, or two or ten, seeing the Grand Canyon (possibly next year), taking a cruise (maybe Alaskan), riding in a helicopter, and many others. I have quite an extensive list of things I want to do and see. Shouldn’t we all?
Bucket list items can include something as simple as learning to crochet, or as daring as skydiving. (Skydiving is not on my list by the way). There is no limit to what you can dream or desire. I challenge you to set some goals and write them down. Setting a small goal and then achieving it gives us the encouragement we need to move on to the next goal that may not be quite so small. Before you know it you will be accomplishing the big things.
Just do it.
A bucket list is a perfect way to stay focused on the things you want to achieve in your lifetime. It can help you feel a sense of purpose. Being able to cross an item off my bucket list feels like I have achieved something worthwhile. My life is not boring by any means. I stay busy and determined. Death is inevitable for each one of us and we should spend our lives achieving the things we desire.
I wish you the best in creating your own bucket list and in achieving it.