I've always kept a mental bucket list, but it wasn't until the summer of 2012 when I really started putting pen to paper and formally writing down all the things that I wanted to include on the list.
I remember that day during June 2012 well: I was in Anchorage for work, but stayed over the weekend so I could do some hiking in the area. The night before, I had purchased a new journal (I am a sucker for good journals) that was appropriately San Francisco themed with the perfect quote so I started writing down the specifics. At that point, I don't think I had even developed an obsession with San Francisco yet, so I find the whole thing even more fabulous.
I had brought my journal with me in my hiking backpack for the day because I guess my thought was that I might be inspired by the natural beauty surrounding me and want to write something poetic. Instead, at the trailhead for Flattop Mountain, a popular hiking spot outside Anchorage, I found the perfect park bench with an incredible view and started writing down all my thoughts on things I wanted to do in my life and my bucket list started.
Of course, after I got down everything I could, I promptly climbed the mountain and took some peace sign pictures at the summit.
From there, the list took off and I have since added to it, but not in a very methodical way. Sometimes I'll make notes in my work notebook or put them on a to do list in my phone and other times I'll make mental notes of things to add. Recently, though, I took on the semi-colossal task of consolidating everything into a spreadsheet (because that's how I do). Of course I might have missed some hidden away in a notebook somewhere, so it's definitely a work in progress, but here it is. I also resisted the urge to put every country in the world as places to visit and rather focused on specific activities I wanted to complete or festivals I wanted to attend.
The best part of the exercise? Going back through the list of things I had added in past years and realizing that I had completed them. Attending the International Hot Air Balloon Festival (#12), going white water rafting (#59), taking a glassblowing class (#79), attending the Richmond night market (#67), going on a jungle bridge tour (#77) and overnight camping at a place so remote you couldn't drive to it (#56) are all things I have crossed off in the past couple years (in the case of white water rafting, I went 4 times one summer!), among many others.
In some instances, friends helped me to cross things off my list without even knowing it. When I went to visit a friend in San Diego last fall, lo and behold, he really wanted to go whale watching (#21). I missed my opportunity to see a whale (but some of our boat did), but we did see a lot of dolphins coming to the surface of the water. It makes my heart happy when we are so on the same page and I adore my friends even more when they help me cross something off the list.
Hope this inspires you to start thinking about what you might want to put on your own bucket list or finalize some initial thoughts you might have floating around in your head!
