Anyone who has ever had
a near death experience always comes out of it valuing life a lot more. I was
recently involved in a car crash, and though I came out physically unscathed, I
passed out and only came to after several hours - thank God. The little things
in life now matter to me much more than before.
I had previously never thought
of a bucket list. That’s far too morbid for someone in my age gap. However, the
day after my car crash, I decided to make a small list of things within my
immediate reach that I had always wanted to do, but postponed out of either
laziness or lack of commitment. Some of them are really easy things. Here goes
in no particular order:
1. Spend more time with my
son – he’s 2 yrs old now
2. Take my wife out to a
new place every month
3. Visit everyone I know
who had a new baby
4. Write more
5. Spend less of my
dedicated vacation time doing work for my employers
6. Use my gym membership
and join my local biking club
7. Get closer to God and
pray with my family every night
8. Read all the books in my
personal library
9. Fix my study – it’s in a
mess right now
10. Execute my
retirement plan
11. Drive the Garden Route
with my family
I have come to find out
that not all of them are as easy as I originally thought. My study is still
less than 20% cleared and I still have not taken my wife to “a new place”. I
guess the refrain here is that even little things sometimes are difficult to
accomplish and may need more time than you thought. So start now. Not all of us
would have the resources and dedicated time Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman
had in the 2007 movie with the same title as this post.
While religion teaches
us that we are just passing through this world to an eternal place of rest and
happiness, it also teaches us that we are here for a reason. As you toil and
scrape in trying to eke out a living, you need to take some time to ponder what
else you should be doing and what resources or opportunities you are letting go
to waste. You need to be happy in this world too. Are you the “too religious”
type? Ok, pretend the happiness is practice for the hereafter.
Life was meant to be
lived simply. Serve your God, love your neighbor and take care of yourself.
I watched a Ted Talks
recently titled “Before I die”. The ease with which folks expressed their one
wish just touched me. Makes you really wonder why you are living such a
complicated life. How do you feel knowing that you have probably accomplished
the one thing that someone else calls that thing they would like to do before
they die? Someone actually listed buying a Mac Book as theirs, and another just
wanted to plant a tree…
This blog post was not
meant to make you depressed but to encourage you to live life more fully and
value the little things.
So what are the short to
long term stuff in your bucket list? Please share with us by posting a comment
here.
SAN
I notice that your bucket list starts with a focus on your family and then goes on to what you will do for yourself as an individual. Love the way you have put them first.
ReplyDeleteRecently, I have found myself scribbling furiously on notepad after notepad what I want my life to be. A Road Map so to say as well as what actions should follow when I reach each milestone. I feel that by writing it down, I can see it better in my mind's eye and once it is there, it will come to fruition easier. You have just inspired me to consolidate it into a formal list. Thank you.