Writing Prompt #57
How Making a Reverse Bucket List Made Me Happier
To create my best life in retirement, I learned I had to shift my perspective
When I turned 60 — too young to retire, too old to continue sprinting on the corporate hamster wheel — I received a birthday present I’ll never forget — a book called My Bucket List, by authors Axel & Ash. The introduction read:
My Bucket List is designed to catch all your dreams, desires, and ideas to make sure you live your life to the absolute fullest! So open your mind, throw off your bowlines, and sail away from the safe harbor — it’s time to decide how you want to spend the rest of your life, it’s time to insert YOUR story!
I was hooked! The idea of planning adventures outside the structured confines of my 9-to-5 was intoxicating. Right away, I began scribbling, filling the pages with my long-repressed dreams and visions.
Among my notes:
Go on a health retreat! Score a hole-in-one. Start a nonprofit for kids. Finish my novel. Travel through Alaska by sled dog. Compete in a poetry slam. Drink wine in France. Experience zero gravity!
The effect was exhilarating. Before making my Bucket List, I thought my number-one retirement goal was no more…
