Bucket List
I guess that moment where you reflect on things that you always wanted to do but never got around to doing because life just happened is different for everybody. For me, that moment came on the drive back from the doctor’s office after hearing I have cancer. Suddenly the rat race, the next big thing, corporate ladder and all things material just faded away leaving in its place the reality that tomorrow might not be another day. What if I never get to experience the touch of a woman that has an emotional investment in me? What if I never get to walk on a beach again? What if I never get to share my experiences with somebody else? All these thoughts drifted through my made as I drove back home.
In the end, it all came down to memories. What memories will I take with me when my sand runs out? With this in mind, I invested energy into putting together my own bucket list. Not being much of a list type of guy, I started off by just jotting down a wish list. All the things I still want to do, touch, see or taste. The list at first was long and for the most part unrealistic. It wasn’t as if I won the lottery, which meant a trip to Tialand wasn’t going to happen. After scratching off the items that for the most part weren’t a possibility, my bucket list came to life:
• Live simple so I may simply live (I try and apply a simple living lifestyle)
• Grow something (First attempt failed)
• Build a fish tank
• Fall in love
• Spend time at the sea (Done)
• Help someone
• Get back into gym (Done)
• Get my weight down (Done)
• Fly a kite
• Go camping (Done)
• Stand in the rain
• Make peace with God (Got baptized)
• Read Hemmingway (Done)
• Study again (Adobe products is my new friend)
• Bake a little sweetness into life (Bakes some biscuits)
• Get a tattoo (Done)
• Be naughty
• Learn to meditate
• Capture a moment on camera (Done)
• Teach something
• Go see my place of birth again (Namibia — Windhoek)
• Become a better public speaker (learn a little acting)
A lot of the items on my list I have been able to achieve over the past 3/4 years, some remain a challenge and some I want to go back. In my opinion, a bucket list should be a live document that you add to as your life situation changes or your means to achieve your goals. Most all it should be simple and personalized. A bucket list is not there to impress other people, it’s a tool by which you can add little more memories to a life that in the eyes of the universal clock is nothing more than a second.
I will keep the list updated — It’s a nice way of gauging what experiences I have added to my life’s basket….
