What's On Your Bucket List? Beware Missing Out on Your Best Life!
“Sooo, I’ve only got 1,064 days until I die,” my dad said.
I stopped walking and grabbed his arm, trying to see his face so I could tell if he was being serious or just pulling my leg. When he saw the concerned look on my face, he kind of smirked and added, “Well, statistically speaking, on average, men only live seventy-eight years. And I’m seventy-four and a half, which means I only have 1,064 days left.” I let out a sigh of relief as I realized he didn’t have a life-threatening illness.
We continued to talk and it got me thinking about my daily planner that I do with Donald Miller. Donald has you fast forward your life to your funeral and write out your ideal obituary–what you hope will be written. Through a series of questions, he leads you through reverse-engineering from that point to make sure you are living your life to the fullest. The idea is that, when you die, you’ll have accomplished the most important things in your life.
I was glad that my dad had this epiphany. He keeps living as if he’s forty years old, taking on way too many projects and investing in things that he’ll never personally see the profits from. I have been hounding him and Mom about their bucket list, trying to get them to commit to doing some of the things they really want to do before it’s too late. My dad is longing to take a trip back to Chile, where he grew up. Mom wants to go to Greece. They both would love to visit their families in Sweden and Norway. The thing is, there is no real reason that they can’t make all of that happen this year. They have the money and the time. What is the holdup? Here is the list of the three top reasons they haven’t gone:
We have so many projects going on, we just can’t afford to leave right now. The truth is there will always be projects. When you finish one thing, another one inevitably pops up. You have to put what you want on the calendar and make those projects fit around it.
It’s going to take a lot of planning and we just don’t have the time right now to get it all organized. For this one, I would say you have to decide what’s most important. Your money or your time? Jumping in with a group tour like mine can take care of all the logistics, so all you have to do is to make sure your passport is up-to-date and book your flights.
This year is already filling up so we should wait until next year. They said this in 2019. If we have learned nothing else from the Covid years, we should remember how quickly things changed. One minute you could travel anywhere and the next minute you couldn't leave your house. Now, more than ever it’s important to go for it and make it happen in this moment.
What are some reasons that you haven’t done what’s on your bucket list?
If traveling abroad is on your dream board, if seeing the world is on your bucket list, why not consider letting me help you make those dreams come true for one of your days here!
