*This post was previously published on my personal blog, cool beans, in the midst of my European travels, when my Bucket List was going from providing helpful direction, to just being a pain in the ass.
Lists and plans can help. Having a to-do list is what gets me through the working day and certainly kept me on track for school. During grad school I even wrote things like “shower” and “wash face” on it (yes, when you have 16th century gendered performance and Foucauldian theory on the brain you need these reminders). Having a clearly defined weekly workout is nearly essential, and without a shopping list I would probably end up lost for hours in grocery stores (or, more likely, just buy everything).
But a list for my life? It rapidly felt restricting as I felt I had to do certain things and leave out others.
What I learned from my Bucket List is that I want the following things out of life: a sense of being centred and settled (even if not literally), travel, good food and books, to love, and to create.
While there are a few things (St. Pat’s in Dublin! macarons from Ladurée in Paris! multiple picnics! living abroad! getting married!) that I am more than happy to cross off my proverbial list, and several others that I will keep in the back of my mind, it feels freeing to just go with the flow. And to be free – that is the ultimate goal.
So bye, bye Bucket List – hello freedom!!!
Great post. I am so disorganized when it comes to writing some plans or lists. Writing my bucket list was a real nightmare and I was changing my mind constantly.
I have that problem too! Plus I kept forgetting where I put it so I never went back and checked if I actually ever did any of it.
Well said! I was thinking about creating one, but maybe best to keep track of the list that has been checked off!