my bucket list
Recently it occurred to me to compile a "bucket list”, that is, a list of all the things i want to do, achieve and/or experience in life before I … well, before I die, or as the English idiom goes, ‘kick the bucket’.
Thinking about my death in this way has been less than inspiring to say the least and I found it quite difficult to put together a meaningful list until I had a timely conversation with a close friend that brought me new and much needed perspective.
“What if you think of your bucket list not as the things you want to do before you die but as experiences that you want to have that push you a little out of your comfort zone?” he suggested.
I hadn’t previously thought of the bucket list in this way. It immediately resonated. Compiling a list of things I want to do before I die seems so daunting and final. Does it mean I failed in life if I don’t get to do all of them? Compiling a list of experiences that push me slightly out of my comfort zone seemed to me so much more manageable and in many ways more practical, supporting my real-time personal growth and expansion.
To the outsider, the ensuing “bucket list” is just that, a bucket list. But I’d like to add that one perspective produced a major block in me and the other cleared the way for inspiration by relieving all the pressure associated with creating said list.
That said, here you have it. My bucket list, in no particular order. Created on the 27th day of June 2021 and referred to for guidance and courage until my eventual death, date unknown.
Build a successful brand from the ground up. Note that the success of said brand will be defined by me.
Release all fear of getting my hair wet and learn to swim so I can fully experience a whole new world. The ocean.
Learn to speak a second language, ideally my mother tongue which I sadly lost in my youth. For those of you who are curious, that language is Nankani, a dialect of Frafra spoken by the people of the Upper East Region of Ghana.
Have at least one person tell me that I positively impacted and changed the course of their life.
Create new life; and if that can’t happen, help to nurture and care for new life.
Speak publicly (online or offline) to an audience of 1000 people.
Write at a book, preferably a memoir but a fantasy novel is also acceptable.
Share a personal secret with the world and release it.
Win a prestigious award for excellence in a field of study or chosen career.
Live in full integrity, especially when it gets hard.
BONUS: Peak over the edge of the earth on at least three continents of which one must be Africa.
