Bucket list

Do you have a bucket list? Do you really need one? I mean, whatever it is that you want to do in this life, why don’t you just do it now? What stops us from taking action? Most times, it’s fear. And sometimes, it’s plain, old sloth. But many prefer to say it’s a lack of resources or the right circumstances that stops them from going after what they want. But not really.

It’s not a lack of time that prevents us from doing the stuff we say we long to do because we can make time for the things we want to do. So when we say, we don’t have time to hit the gym, what we actually mean is that going to the gym is not a priority.

It’s not a lack of money that stops us from exploring new places. We don’t need to fly first class to explore a new place. In fact, we don’t need to fly, at all. We don’t need to go far, either. We can just take the bus or take a walk around the block and explore all the places we’ve actually never been to—since birth.

So when we say we don’t have the money to explore new places, what we actually mean is that we are not that interested in exploring.

A friend once told me that he really wanted to meet new people but that he didn’t have the opportunity. Because he was a good friend, I gently told him, one day, “You have plenty of opportunity. Now, for instance, we are surrounded by people in a non-threatening environment. All you have to do is approach someone and strike up a conversation with them. That’s how you meet new people.”

We can make time. We can find the resources. We can create the opportunities. We can create the circumstances. We have the power to do everything we say we want to do in our lives—if we take steps to make them happen.

But more often than not, we don’t—because we are creatures of habit. And we are risk-averse. We don’t like stepping out of our comfort zones. The fear of failure paralyzes us into inaction. And sometimes, we are simply too lazy to try something new even though we say we are bored or unhappy with our lives.

If we want something “new” to happen in our lives, we actually have to do something “new” too.”

I confess I find it hard to survive without my todo-lists. But believe it or not, I don’t have a bucket list. You see, I like to keep my short-term plans focused and organized but I like to keep the long-term sort of fuzzy and open to surprise. I figure I need to know what I’m doing tomorrow or next week but five years from today? What for? I don’t even know if I’ll still be around.

I don’t have a bucket list because I believe in living life. Not later. Not one day. But now. I don’t need a list of things I want to do one day because I don’t even know if I have one day. But I have now so I will do what I can—now.

Do you have a bucket list? You don’t really need it. Just live. Now.

I like to keep my shortterm plans focused and organized but I like to keep the long-term sort of fuzzy and open to surprise