Need it in your life? It’s time to chuck it

IF YOU are obsessed with ticking items off a bucket list, there is every possibility you have overlooked the importance of an equally important planning tool – your “chuck-it” list. A chuck-it list differs from a bucket list in that it is a comprehensive listing of what you want to remove from your life rather than add to it.

While few would dispute the gratifying nature of bucket list experiences, the contention that overall life satisfaction can be achieved through undertaking a series of not-so-cheap thrills late in life has big holes in it.

It is almost impossible to achieve fulfilment in later life without releasing ourselves from the obligations and restrictions that we have accumulated. These are the things that drag us down, deplete our energy levels or stop us from doing the activities we enjoy.

This is where a chuck-it list comes into its own.

While a bucket list experience might give us a much-needed adrenalin hit, a chuck-it list contributes to our satisfaction by allowing us to let go.

Many chuck-it listers quit habits, behaviours or personal items that deliver grief or inconvenience, leave them feeling flat or clutter their lives. Some decide to add particular people to their quit lists, those who rub them up the wrong way, treat them with disrespect or exhaust them.

Others decide to quit particular places, including those that conjure up bad memories, loud and crowded bars or toxic workplaces.

There are even quit listers who choose to list things they have always being committed to, but now wish to dump.

This might include giving up on the idea of swimming with the sharks, getting a tattoo, trying to achieve a six-pack through intense gym work or retiring prematurely.

A chuck-it list is about creating the conditions to enjoy your time alive every day, not just the short-lived exhilaration of something on a bucket list.

To be truly satisfied as we age, we need to offload the practices, possessions, people and places that create guilt, insecurity, anxiety or even self-hatred.

The chuck-it list is about our conscious choices as we grow older. True happiness requires hanging on to what matters and letting go of the things we have accumulated over a lifetime that drag us down.

As we grow older, we increasingly need to recognise that while bucket lists are fun, chuck-it lists are an absolute necessity.