Some years ago, when I was questioning my whole "raison d'etre", I tried to find motivation for carrying on with living. The best answer I found was that what we really need is to be able to share stories from our lives when we're old people talking with each other in the locker room.
As of this moment I don't really know how feasible that is. In my experience, we can be living a life that seems full and exciting, with everything seemingly manageable and good, when the bottom can fall out and we realize it was, after all, just an illusion.
I think as good a thing as anything is a bucket list. It may not dictate how you live your life, but a list can give you impetus, I think, to make stuff happen. It can at least get the bottle shaken up a bit, the cobwebs dusted out, and give you a new perspective about life as you check the items off.
More on all this philosophical codswallop later, but for now, here's my bucket list. It contains many items that I've already achieved; some of which I will revisit, I expect and hope, as my life progresses.
I'm 62 as of writing this, which seems unbelievable to me. I cannot surely be 62 years of age. But apparently I am. So some of these are more urgent, I guess, to make happen. They appear in no particular order. The aim is for 100. I will add them as I go on. Then, I will write separate entries for each one as I talk about the experience, achievement, desire or failure to achieve it.
1: Be a professional actor.
2:: Write a book and have it published.
3: Live abroad
4: Paint a painting and hang it somewhere.
5: Ride a 500cc Royal Enfield motorcycle across India
5: Learn to fly
6: Learn to drive a semi
7: Learn to SCUBA dive
8: Do a parachute jump
9: Own my own business
10: Write a screenplay and have it produced.
11: Write a novel
12: Own my own home, outright.
13: Circumnavigate the globe
14: See the Taj Mahal
15: Be a stand up comic
16: Travel somewhere with nothing and make it.
17: Restore a vintage car
18: Run a marathon
19: Speak a second language fluently
20: Visit Cuba
21: Learn Tango
22: Learn piano
23: Understand calculus
24: Learn the drums
25: Appear in a West End play
26: Make a sculpture
27: Learn to cook
28: Learn to ride a horse
29: Learn chess
30. Tell my parents I love them
31: Fly in a hot air balloon
32: Watch the sun rise then set without moving all day.
33: See the Aurora Borealis
34: Make a million dollars
35: Plant a tree
36: Throw a party
37: Model nude for an art class
38: Travel across America
39: Swim with dolphins
40: See the Grand Canyon
41: Stand atop the World Trade Center
42: Visit New York City and stay at The Waldorf hotel.
43: Stay in Paris at the Hotel Maurice.
44: Live in a different country for at least six months
45: Build my own house
46: See a solar eclipse
47: Visit Africa and go on safari
48: Gamble on a roulette wheel in Las Vegas
49: Visit Japan and eat sushi
50: Cross the equator into the Southern hemisphere
51: Trek to the North Pole
52: Fly first class, transatlantic.
53: Fly supersonic
54: Fly in a helicopter
55: Fly in a glider
56: See the Earth from space
57: Write and record an album
58: Star in a film or TV series
59: Fly a hang glider
60: Dance tango in Buenos Aires
61: Learn to stunt drive
62: Win an award
63: Understand gravity
64: Have a full grasp of the concepts of higher mathematics
65: Learn to juggle
66: Learn to fight/ kick box/ martial arts
67: Own a Porsche 911
68: Pilot my own plane onto a Caribbean island (see 73)
69: Sing and play in a band
70: Get my guitar chops back
71: Paint a self portrait
72:Maintain my idea weight (180 lbs ish) for at least a year.
73: Fly a light aircraft from Santa Fe, NM to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
74: Own a property in Puerto Rico
75: Own and run an animal sanctuary.
76: Have my own boat, and catch a Marlin or other big game fish.
As of this moment I don't really know how feasible that is. In my experience, we can be living a life that seems full and exciting, with everything seemingly manageable and good, when the bottom can fall out and we realize it was, after all, just an illusion.
I think as good a thing as anything is a bucket list. It may not dictate how you live your life, but a list can give you impetus, I think, to make stuff happen. It can at least get the bottle shaken up a bit, the cobwebs dusted out, and give you a new perspective about life as you check the items off.
More on all this philosophical codswallop later, but for now, here's my bucket list. It contains many items that I've already achieved; some of which I will revisit, I expect and hope, as my life progresses.
I'm 62 as of writing this, which seems unbelievable to me. I cannot surely be 62 years of age. But apparently I am. So some of these are more urgent, I guess, to make happen. They appear in no particular order. The aim is for 100. I will add them as I go on. Then, I will write separate entries for each one as I talk about the experience, achievement, desire or failure to achieve it.
1: Be a professional actor.
2:: Write a book and have it published.
3: Live abroad
4: Paint a painting and hang it somewhere.
5: Ride a 500cc Royal Enfield motorcycle across India
5: Learn to fly
6: Learn to drive a semi
7: Learn to SCUBA dive
8: Do a parachute jump
9: Own my own business
10: Write a screenplay and have it produced.
11: Write a novel
12: Own my own home, outright.
13: Circumnavigate the globe
14: See the Taj Mahal
15: Be a stand up comic
16: Travel somewhere with nothing and make it.
17: Restore a vintage car
18: Run a marathon
19: Speak a second language fluently
20: Visit Cuba
21: Learn Tango
22: Learn piano
23: Understand calculus
24: Learn the drums
25: Appear in a West End play
26: Make a sculpture
27: Learn to cook
28: Learn to ride a horse
29: Learn chess
30. Tell my parents I love them
31: Fly in a hot air balloon
32: Watch the sun rise then set without moving all day.
33: See the Aurora Borealis
34: Make a million dollars
35: Plant a tree
36: Throw a party
37: Model nude for an art class
38: Travel across America
39: Swim with dolphins
40: See the Grand Canyon
41: Stand atop the World Trade Center
42: Visit New York City and stay at The Waldorf hotel.
43: Stay in Paris at the Hotel Maurice.
44: Live in a different country for at least six months
45: Build my own house
46: See a solar eclipse
47: Visit Africa and go on safari
48: Gamble on a roulette wheel in Las Vegas
49: Visit Japan and eat sushi
50: Cross the equator into the Southern hemisphere
51: Trek to the North Pole
52: Fly first class, transatlantic.
53: Fly supersonic
54: Fly in a helicopter
55: Fly in a glider
56: See the Earth from space
57: Write and record an album
58: Star in a film or TV series
59: Fly a hang glider
60: Dance tango in Buenos Aires
61: Learn to stunt drive
62: Win an award
63: Understand gravity
64: Have a full grasp of the concepts of higher mathematics
65: Learn to juggle
66: Learn to fight/ kick box/ martial arts
67: Own a Porsche 911
68: Pilot my own plane onto a Caribbean island (see 73)
69: Sing and play in a band
70: Get my guitar chops back
71: Paint a self portrait
72:Maintain my idea weight (180 lbs ish) for at least a year.
73: Fly a light aircraft from Santa Fe, NM to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
74: Own a property in Puerto Rico
75: Own and run an animal sanctuary.
76: Have my own boat, and catch a Marlin or other big game fish.
77: See great white sharks from a cage https://travel.padi.com/d/guadalupe-island/
