What’s a Bucket List?

If you haven’t heard about the term “bucket list”, it is a list of all the goals you want to achieve, dreams you want to fulfill, and life experiences you desire to experience before you die.

Why Create a Bucket List?

If you don’t live your days by personal goals and plans, chances are you spend most of your time caught up in a flurry of day-to-day activities. Ever felt that your days are passing you by without any tangible output to speak of? What did you accomplish in the past 3 months? What are your upcoming goals for the next 3 months? Look at the things you did and the things you’re planning to do next — do they mean anything to you if you are to die today? Having a bucket list reminds me of what’s really important so I can act on them.

Even if you frequently live by goals or to-do lists, they are probably framed within a certain social context e.g. performance, career, health. A bucket list opens up the context. It’s a forum to set up anything and everything you’ve ever wanted to do, whether it’s big, small, or random.

It’s just like planning ahead all the highlights you want for YOUR whole life. Even though goal setting is already my staple activity, I still found many new things to do while I was writing this list. It is an incredibly insightful exercise. What’s more, coming up with my list gave me a whole new layer of enthusiasm knowing what’s in store ahead!

The objective of creating this list isn’t to instill some kind of a race against time or to create aversion toward death. I don’t see our existence to be limited to just our physical years on Earth — our physical lifespan is but a short speck of our existence in the universe.

The whole point of creating your list is to maximize every moment of our existence and live our life to the fullest. It’s a reminder of all the things we want to achieve in our time here so that instead of pandering our time to pointless activities, we are directing it fully toward what matters to us.

I’ve crossed out the things I’ve done, here is my list (might add more…)

• Visit the Aokigahara Forest
• See a Shark
• Wake up on January 1st next to the one I love
• Watch a meteor shower
• Try macarons
• Make homemade waffels
• Get engaged
• Be his bride
• Marry him
• Gon on a midnight stroll in Paris
• Slow dance in the rain
• Go to a floating lantern festival in Thailand
• Build an Igloo
• Make a wish at the Trevi Fountain in Rome
• Spash a pie in someone’s face
• Visit the world’s largest aquarium
• Try Dragon Fruit
• Visit Scotland
• Visit Ireland
• Get kissed under a waterfall
• Visit the Statue of Liberty
• Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Center
• Try Belgian Chocolate
• Find the love of my life
• Spend the entire day watching Disney Movies
• Be happy with my body
• Watch the Northern Lights
• Eat a croissant at a bakery in Paris
• Kiss under fireworks
• Keep a promise ring
• Take a picture at the perfect moment
• Lay under the stars with someone special
• Watch the sunset with someone I love
• Tour Alcatraz Island
• Cuddle under the stars
• Bake a giant Cupcake
• Have my own star
• Spend the night in a Haunted Mansion or place
• Watch all Marvel movies with the one I love
• Try goat cheese
• Have my favorite author sign my book
• Witness someone getting proposed to
• See a tornado
• Let a snowflake land on my tongue
• Run through a field of sunflowers
• Play with sparkles
• Have a song dedicated to me
• Visit Pompeii, Italy
• Walk through a drive-thru
• Plant a tree
• See the monarch butterfly migration
• Throw a party with fake alcohol and see how many people act wasted
• Get a taxi and yell “Follow that car!”
• Go to Australia
• Go to the Cayman Islands
• Hold a “Free Hug” sign in public
• Try every Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor
• Finish an entire coloring book
• Go to Greece
• Stay in Cinderella’s Castle suite at Walt Disney World
• Cuddle and listen to his heartbeat
• Have matching pyjamas
• Board game night
• Make someone less fortunate smile on Christmas
• Visit Yosemite Falls
• Have sex in a hammock
• See the fireworks at Disneyland
• Cuddle on a rainy day
• Make him happy
• Lay in bed with him all-day
• Make dinner together
• Get a hotel with him for the weekend
• Sleep on a trampoline
• Visit the Walk of Fame
• Donate blood
• Cuddle by the fire
• Go on a Disney date
• Visit Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Have a water balloon fight
• Go on a date to the zoo
• Have a whipped cream fight
• Build a sandman
• Volunteer at a kid’s hospital
• Shower under a waterfall
• Have a legit picnic
• Pack everything up and get away
• Go on a road trip with my best friend
• Visit the wizarding world of Harry Potter
• Find P.Sherman 42 wallaby way, Sidney
• Kiss at the top of a Ferris wheel
• Spend New Year at Disney
• Have a man sing to me
• Be kissed unexpectedly
• Throw a drink in someone’s face
• Leave cute notes on a bunch of windshields
• Write and publish a book
• Go to Norway
• Go to London
• Go to California
• Fill a truckbed full of pillows and blankets and drive in the middle of nowhere to go stargazing
• Sit front row at a concert
• Go on a “no destination”
• Visit the Tower of Pisa
• See the Stonehenge
• Make a British guard laugh
• Stomp grapes in Italy
• Get a tattoo in memory of someone
• Ride the London Eye
• Stay in an Overwater Bungalow
• Ride in a limo
• Post a letter on Juliet’s House wall
• Leave an inspirational message for someone
• Spend the day at a water park
• Swim with crocodiles in Australia
• Visit Cinque Terre, Italy
• Go on a cruise with him
• Go on a romantic date trip to Italy
• Send a letter to a random address and see if they write back
• Visit Portugal
• Float in the dead sea
• Shoot a gun
• Go to Switzerland
• Walk on Hollywood blvd.
• Ride a motorcycle
• Go shopping in NYC
• Fly First Class
• Witness total solar eclipse August 21, 2017
• Go to all my favorite band’s concerts
• Order dessert first at a restaurant
• Go hiking through the woods together
• Go on a water roller coaster
• Run through a field of flowers
• Start a diary and write in it every day
• Play paintball
• Go on a spontaneous road trip
• Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
• Play hide and seek in Ikea
• Go on a carnival date
• Feed a Giraffe
• Visit all the locations where my favorite movies were filmed and take a picture
• See the Northern Lights
• Go to a masquerade ball
• Eat in an Underwater Restaurant
• See Heaven’s Trail in Ireland
• Visit platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station
• Travel the world and make memories with someone I love
• Sit in a hot tub in winter
• Build a snowman
• Make a snow angel
• Swim with dolphins
• Wear colored contacts
• Spend a holiday somewhere exotic
• Make vanilla pudding, put it in a mayonnaise jar, and eat it in public
• Buy a pair of white shoes and doodle on them
• Make a scrapbook full of memories
• Get a tattoo
• Yell at the top of a mountain
• Spend a whole day sleeping
• Build a blanket fort with someone I love
• Stay awake for 24 hours
• Feel proud of what I’ve cooked
• Go on a family vacation
• Go to a concert and sing your heart out
• Watch the sunset at the beach
• See snow
• Learn how to swim
• Learn how to make Ice Cream
• Go to Santorini, Greece
• Walk behind a waterfall
• Be in a snowy London
• Ride in a private jet
• Breathe in helium, then walk up behind someone and say “Follow the yellow brick road!”
• Have a dog for its entire life
• Have the same best friend for the rest of my life
• Go to a midnight movie premiere
• Have a Birthday surprise party
• Take cute pictures in a photo booth with someone
• See the Pyramids
• Walk up to a stranger and hand him a briefcase and whisper “You know what to do” and walk away
• Make out with someone with pop rocks in my mouth
• Learn archery
• Take my mom on the vacation of her dreams
• Build a treehouse
• Learn to speak ten languages -I speak 5, guess that’s enough?-
• Go on vacation by myself
• Visit the Santa Monica pier
• Have my own movie theatre in my house
• Have a candle-lit bath
• Visit Abbey Road and recreate the Beatle’s cover
• Design my own Converse
• Take pictures with a Polaroid camera
• Say “yes” all day for one day
• Eat a roll of Hubba Bubba gum at one time
• Jump in a pool fully clothed
• Spend a whole week with my best friend
• Receive a giant teddy bear -bought one myself-
• Use a fake name at Starbucks
• Hold a baby turtle
• Visit a tropical rainforest
• Take a photo every day for a year
• See the Grand Canyon
• Have sex on a plane
• Ride a double-decker bus in London
• Send a message in a bottle
• Go to a drive-in movie
• Visit Bora Bora & stay in an ocean hut
• Stay on a private island
• Visit Japan
• Own a house with an indoor pool
• Stay at an Ice Hotel
• Go to an opera
• Go to Comic-con
• Have a walk-in closet
• Move to another country
• Eat gelato in Italy
• Learn to play the piano
• Go to Oktoberfest in Germany
• Grow old with someone I love
• Watch fireworks with the person I love
• Spend Halloween in Salem
• Visit a flow worm cave
• Dance in the rain
• Drive the entire length of Route 66
• Celebrate st. Patrick’s Day in Ireland
• See the Hollywood sign
• Go to Los Angeles
• Visit Transylvania
• Watch the ball drop in Times Square
• See the Hobbit houses in New Zealand
• Party in Las Vegas
• Stay in an underwater hotel
• See the mountains in Alaska
• Visit the four corners
• See T-Rex bones at a museum
• Cuddle a baby tiger
• Rope swing into the water
• Sex in a hot tub
• Put menthos in diet Coke
• Photobomb a stranger
• Be the best wife to my husband
• Spend an entire day cuddling
• Have a baby
• Be shut up with a kiss
• Kiss him from 11:59 to 12:01 on New years
• Bake cookies for a nursing home
• Have an unforgettable adventure
• Own a classic car
• Put soap in a public fountain
• Be in two places at once
• Visit the Taj Mahal
• Kiss under the Eiffel Tower
• Ride in a helicopter
• Save a life
• Read every book I own
• Create a memory box and open it years later
• Find beauty and happiness in the little things
• Make an adventure book
• Write a letter to myself and open it in 10 years
• Build a home library
• Run through a fountain
• Leave a cute note in a library book
• Explore a cave
• Let someone know how much he/she means to you
• Perform a kind deed without expecting anything in return
• Be a mentor to someone
• Honeymoon in any of these places: Maldives, Bora Bora, Santorini, Amalfi Coast, Florence, Lisbon, Arraial do Cabo, Fernando de Noronha
• Sing to an audience
• Ride A Gondola In Venice
• Sing At A Karaoke
• Fly A Kite
• See the tulips in Holland in full bloom
• Forgive someone who you need to forgive
• Walk in a field of sunflowers
• Do something for someone else and feel moved to tears because of it
• Do random acts of kindness
• Spend my Birthday in an unforgettable place
• Give a heartfelt surprise to someone
• Feed dears
• Head to the airport and take the first flight available, go for the weekend, or a week as a date
• Get a mistletoe kiss
• Build a full-size snowman
• Stop Smoking
• Leave a good book on a bench for someone
• See Mount Fiji in Japan