Intro

Five years ago, I learned the true meaning of a bucket list when I applied for Medicare and Social Security. Yep, I was turning 65 and there were no real age markers left such as turning 18 (voting), 25 (unrestrained car rental), 40, 50 and all the requisite life events that those ages are associated with. Next up was 65. What was left? Was there anything left or had I done it all? Had I reached the last milestone of life? Well, that would be sad. The woman from Medicare helping me said, "I have two words for you: bucket list."

What is a Bucket List?

The term has been around since the movie of the same name popularized the term. (For the record, I never saw the movie). The concept is a good one because it can bring focus to actually doing things that previously we only dreamt of.

According to Stanford University Medical School, "A bucket list is an itemized list of goals [that] people want to accomplish before they “kick the bucket” — or die."

Periyakoil, Neri, & Kraemer, (2018), posit that the bucket list could make us more aware of our own mortality and the impermanence of our lifespans. Also, it allows for reflection on our personal values and helps identify important milestones and experiences that we want to have before we die. Finally, and my favorite usage of the bucket list terminology, is that it provides a framework that is "a sign of hope and future orientation." In other words, the bucket list is a motivator, something that is hopeful, rather than just a pre-cursor to death.

Kicking the bucket, to refer to death is not how I like to use of the word bucket. The bucket is there as a container for stuff we didn't have time or other resources for.

A bucket list for a young person will be quite different from that of an older person. For example, an item for the bucket list is finding the desire at age 15 to throw the biggest destination 30th birthday party ever. That is a bucket list item for sure. At 15, we generally have very few of our own resoxurces. We don't even know what our lives will be like 15 years in the future, nor who will remain or become our friends and new family. If we put this 30 year old mega-party into the bucket, then we can put focus on it and start making progress toward that dream. Opening a savings account that one contributes to each week can be a task for that bucket item.

Resources to be used for accomplishing bucket list items amount to time, money, and opportunity. Resources can be internal or external. Internal meaning that you are emotionally ready and internally strong. An external resource would be having money to do the activity. In other words, filling the bucket with pie-in-the-sky ideas can be used in any stage of life. Yoga and meditation can serve as both an internal and external resource.

Multiple Choice Quiz: Travel or Dental Work

As we age over a lifetime, the bucket may start overflowing. The bucket list items pile up until you become acutely aware that you are now pretty old and it is time to start taking stuff out of the bucket and start DOING it.

I had put aside some funds that I would not touch until my "old age." A sum that I could spend on dental work or, better yet, travel. Flash forward to last year, 2022, when I realized, OMG! this IS my old age! How did it get here so fast? I told myself that "you can spend money on dental work or throw caution to the wind and see the world." Dental work is definitely NOT on the bucket list. It's only a necessary evil.

So I decided to begin emptying the bucket and opted for seeing the world. Realizing that if I don't do it now, I never will. I am not getting any younger, never is getting closer, and I still need the dental work! I will just figure out a way to pay for it.
If I don't do it now, I never will. I guess it's time to see what's in my bucket list and spend that money. Thus, I embarked on one of the most remarkable experiences of my life.

Travel is an example and usually a biggie. Travel requires time and funding. So this can quickly get postponed. Your bucket list is here to remind you that today is the day we stop postponing.

Other Bucket List Examples

Daily meditation could be one thing in your bucket list. The resource constraint here could have been just not having or making the time. Now that you've found 10 to 20 minutes in your day for "me" time, you can begin a regular daily meditation practice. Even the deep meditation of Yoga Nidra can be done in that short time frame.

As I say, again and again, yoga is healthy for the body, mind and spirit. Keeping all three limber by practicing each day makes aging easier. Yoga can act prophylactically to slow the aging process. Establishing a regular yoga routine, class, private lesson, or stretching and strengthening on your own is an item that I encourage you to add to your bucket list if you haven't already.

Updating the Bucket List

I hate to think that the bucket list is where it all ends. The bucket can continue to be replenished and added to. I have updated my travel list. Now, that I've been to North America, Europe, and Asia, I've added to my bucket list to travel to every inhabited continent at least once. It might not happen, but having it in the bucket list helps as a reference point.

We learn so much when we travel. Travel opens up new perspectives and new brain cells. My brain seems to be firing on more cylinders these days after spending time with people from around the world and seeing some of the most iconic sights of Europe. Just moving around, meeting new people, and being treated to the great delicacies of other countries was worth any inconveniences of travel. I am a stronger person who now feels more whole. I owe it all to having the resources and my bucket list to guide me.

What's in your bucket list these days? If you don't have one, I encourage you to start.

Resources and Further Readings

Periyakoil, V. S., Neri, E., & Kraemer, H. (2018). Common Items on a Bucket List. Journal of palliative medicine, 21(5), 652–658. https://doi.org/10.1089/jpm.2017.0512

Stanford Medicine. (2023). What is a Bucket List. Retrieved from https://stan.md/3KgM7dB