The Bucket List Life

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I’ve had a “bucket list” since I was about 13 years old. I didn’t call it a bucket list back then, but it was still a list of all the things I wanted to do with my life.

The list is kind of crazy. It runs the gamut, from learning lots of languages to learning how to use nunchucks, from traveling all over the world to living in a town where people know my name at the coffee shop. It’s clear that sometimes I was just on a roll and listed every musical instrument I might want to learn. Other times, careers were on my mind and I wanted to reach for the pinnacle of success. I wrote the list on index cards and added to it over the years.

This was important to me because the world seemed big and exciting and I wanted to have a list, somehow, somewhere, that gave me license to dream and imagine myself out in that world. Into adulthood, the list became something of a credo. It was a way I could orient myself, my money, my vacation time to living big, or, as I call it: “living the bucket list life.”

Earlier this year, I found a website, BucketList.org, that could help me organize my goals, track my accomplishments, and find others on the same path, as well as new ideas to add to my bucket list!

Bucket List

You can see my profile on BucketList.org here.

In the 20+ years I’ve had a bucket list, though, I haven’t found the kind of writing I’d like to see around the topic. I’m a nuts-and-bolts kind of thinker. If you tell me about an adventure, I want to know how you planned it, paid for it, plotted out the details.

Luckily, the BucketList.org crew was interested in having that kind of writing on their website too, so I’ve been writing for them since August 2014. Here are my first five posts:

 

Writing for this site is a dream come true.

First and foremost, I think bucket lists are incredibly important. It would be so easy to return to the same vacation spot year after year. Or always – and only – dreaming about learning a language and living in a foreign country. Having a bucket list makes my heart’s deepest desires – and all of my crazy ideas – actionable possibilities that can be accomplished with a little bit of planning.

Also, I love writing about the details! Working a bucket list isn’t an easy or obvious skill, so I hope that, by sharing my experiences with budgeting, watching too much TV on a beach vacation, or even failing at some goals, I can facilitate a more realistic conversation about living the bucket list life.

It’s been exciting and I encourage you to check out the site. I have a few more articles in the pipeline and I invite you to follow along here.

And if you start your own profile, follow me here!

Forget about “what’s in your wallet.” Tell me, what’s on your bucket list?

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