Buckets lists are something we all talk about and hey, they even made a film with Jack Nicholson & Morgan Freeman about the concept, but what is a bucket list? Well a bucket list ,in short, is a list that is compiled of activities and experiences a person wants to accomplish during their life.
Bucket lists can be especially hard to create when you are living with mental health, as getting through day to day is hard enough, let alone planning the future. However, bucket lists for everyone have probably fallen at the wayside since Covid-19. Some of the experiences and activities we have wanted to do, have not been possible.
For myself, I have never really created a bucket list physically, but I have certainly had things I wanted to do. One of my main ones was visiting New York, which I did in 2018 (and hope to do many more times). I even look at other achievements as goals that I would put on a bucket list. Getting my first job, passing my driving test, getting my start in my IT career and soon to be buying my first home, are all moments in my life I am so happy with. All those moments were done through constant self-doubt, anxiety and times of feeling down.
I tend to not try and think long term these days though, as I always find that by doing so you can end up wasting living in the present. I must admit my life thus far has been different to how I thought it would be, in good ways and bad ways. I love this quote from a fictional character in Sons of Anarchy called Jax Teller. He says “I don’t have a vision anymore. All I see is what’s right in front of me.” This really rings true to me, as looking at life and what you want to do is easier when you look at what is there, not what might be.
There are many more activities and experiences that I want to achieve in life, but I am happy knowing that some may or may not happen. It is also exiting to know that some experiences may happen that are not on my internal bucket list. Those kinds of moments are so special, as we should always allow ourselves to be surprised sometimes and to enjoy experiences that we did not envision we would.
Do you have a bucket list? If you do, have you ticked off any items yet? And does your mental health get in the way of your bucket list items? I would love to hear from you.
