You’re going to want to add “create a bucket list” to your mental bucket list after you read this bucket list list (please–I insist).
I’ve noticed most people my age have a mental bucket list. For context, I’m twenty-two years old and, like my fellow Millennials, I’m not about to settle for subpar. The Millennial generation has extended the phase of emerging adulthood, pushed norms, and are currently changing the way we live our lives more than any generation before us. (I can personally attest to this. Currently, I’m writing to you from a Chipotle in central Florida because getting an office job in New York was too mainstream for this Millennial Hipster.)
We don’t like to live our lives according to the dictations of society.
We set our own pace and live the way we want. We do this because we seek greater fulfillment from an existence that stands beyond the border of the cubicle.
But living outside the norm is as challenging as it is rewarding. So many of us find ourselves creating personal bucket lists for each stage of life. For example, by the time I’m 25, I’d like to have lived in each corner of the United States. We also find ourselves creating smaller markers. For example, before the end of next summer, I need to try skydiving once.
We create small bucket lists in our heads that need to be completed before we kick the bucket of emerging adulthood and move onto the next stage of mature relationships and mortgages.
No matter the stage of life you’re currently at, I strongly encourage you to make a bucket list of things you’d like to do in the next five years. It can be a small thing, like getting in the habit of taking a walk every night before bed. Or it can be a grand pursuit, like moving to Kansas because you want to know if it’s everything Dorothy cracked it up to be. Regardless of the subject matter, I highly encourage you to make a list of things you’d like to accomplish before you kick the metaphorical bucket of this phase of your existence.
- It will give you a goal to strive for outside of work: We need personal interests and hobbies and therefore we need to set goals to keep us on track with those hobbies.
- It will increase your sense of identity: Few things define us quite like meeting our goals defines us.
- It will keep you thinking about your life on broad terms: It’s easy to get caught up in the intricacies of that spreadsheet on your desk, but what about that goal to travel to Spain for Christmas?
- It will give you something to do on the weekends besides brunch: you always told yourself you wanted to take a painting class. Now you have to.
- It allows you to bond with people: Tell a friend you’re signing up for a painting class and ask if they want to take it with you. Now you’re bonding WHILE you achieve those goals.
- It will cause you to think outside the box: What do you want to be defined by with this stage of life? Probably not spreadsheets…
- It will distract you from the mundane: Unfortunately, life is often very tedious. We fall into routine and every now and then we need something to pull us out of that monotony. Let your bucket list be the line that pulls you away…from those spreadsheets (I’m beginning to notice a trend with spreadsheets).
- It gives you an excuse to step outside your comfort zone: Sometimes it’s hard to show up to a cooking class because it’s an uncomfortable step away from the norm. Giving yourself a deadline puts the pressure on you from you.
- It allows you to set minor goals for yourself: If you do heed my wisdom, make sure you have short term goals on your list (to be achieved in the next few weeks), medium goals (to be achieved in a year), and long term goals (like your goal to burn every spreadsheet in the office and move to Spain).
- It will make you feel like a badass: I dare you to jump out of a plane and not feel like a badass. Do it–you won’t.
[Featured Image Credit: The Curious Catholic]