I have always
been a dreamer. When life was
unsatisfactory, when I would have preferred to be anywhere but in my own skin,
I spent my time imagining what life would be like some day, at another, better
time. Until now, I never thought of my
dreams and plans to be carried out eventually (when I had the funds, when I was
finished with college, when I felt like it) as a bucket list, but I suppose
that iss what they have been all along.
After all, "eventually" is just a nicer way of saying
"before I die." Not all of my
dreams are practical - some of them are as far fetched as you can get - but I
think that is the beauty of dreaming. It
frees you from the binds of every day life.
While there are endless exciting and wonderful things to do that are
entirely possible within the constraints of physics and my budget, I have never
been inclined to limit myself in that way.
So, without further adieu, I present you with my "bucket
list."
The item first and foremost on my
list of things to accomplish before the timer hits zero is getting as far out
of Arkansas as possible. It is not that
Arkansas is a bad place, because it is not.
It is simply that it is not right for me, never has been, and
potentially never will be. I do not
tolerate the heat well. I do not share
the general population's viewpoints on hunting, fishing, gun control, or most
current political issues. I do not hate
it here, but I have never fit in, and it has never been my home. So, before I accomplish anything else, I want
out of Arkansas. I may find that
Arkansas is better than anywhere else I go, and I may come back one day, but my
experiences thus far say it is an unlikely prospect.
Item number two is more like a short
list unto itself. The first step is to
move out of the United States. I refuse
to spend my short time on Earth stuck inside the bubble that is the United
States of America. I want to live in the
French countryside. I want to own five century old farmhouse in Scotland. I want to walk the streets of Rome. I want to explore the African savannah. I want to see every museum, every famous work
of art, and every ancient structure in the world in person. I want to see the Australian outback and
arctic Russia. I want to learn a dozen
languages, and communicate easily wherever I end up. I want to experience Egypt, Canada, and
Brazil. I want to see everything there
is to see, and one day when I am old to be able to say, "I have traveled
the world." with complete honesty.
Last but certainly not least on my
bucket list is something that is significantly more complicated than it
sounds. I want to learn to be
happy. I want to be content with my life. Happiness is not something that someone else
can provide for you. It is a choice that
you make every day when you wake up, no matter the circumstances in your
life. You decide whether or not it is a
good day. You can not always control
what happens to you, but you can certainly control your reaction to it. My biggest lifetime goal is to learn to
genuinely be in control of my own happiness.
In summary, I have a lot of
dreams. I may accomplish all of
them. I may add to the list as time goes
on. A year from now, I might have an
entirely different bucket list than the one you just read. The beauty of a bucket list is that there are
no rules and regulations. It is what you
want it to be, and if you change your mind, it can change with you. I am only eighteen. I have a lifetime ahead of me to think of
other things I would like to do before I die, and I'm sure it will not take
long for this list to exceed two and a half pages. For now, though, these are the things I want
to do before I die, and I think that they are enough.
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