Lists. I’m all about lists. Time management lists, shopping lists, task lists, general to do lists. I am known for my lists. Lists are good reminders. They keep a person on track. But I’ve never been one to generate a “starting next year, I’m not going to ……” list, or the New Years Resolutions list.
Over the last couple years, I have done a lot of self-exploration, looking at what I’m doing, when, where and why, and evaluating my choices. First quarter 2012 I made the astute observation that I was living life in reaction mode. I was reacting to the world around me, rather than living with purpose. I didn’t have a life plan.
A life plan. Living with purpose. How profound. Sounds like an opportunity for a list.
Of course, getting to a realization like this often comes from a traumatic—life altering experience. For me it was no different. I’d been shocked into the reality that even if you put everything you have into a job you love, forfeiting any resemblance of having a normal balanced life, you can still be knocked on your ass and have the thing you cherish most held over your head, threatening to be taken from you. And then what would be left?
Well, in my case, pretty much nothing. How healthy is that?
So, after doing the work, strategically, psychologically, emotionally, and literally, I got on track and created the beginning of my life’s plan. It meant having to let go of things I thought I couldn’t live without, in order to start something I know I cannot live without.
And not being afraid to go get it.
Letting go is difficult. Change is scary. It’s not easy to leave one’s comfort zone, or take chances. “Leap, and the net will appear.” Requires faith and trust and an ability to face the unknown with a spring in your step and smile on your face.
Oh, absolutely I’m in!
So here I am, with the New Year fast approaching, looking at how my new direction is playing out. My life plan actually translates into a “bucket list” so to speak. The list is, by the very nature of it, somewhat fluid as I add things along the way. For now my goal is to look at what I’ve got listed so far, and decide where everything can fit in. What I’m finding is that I feel grounded, yet free. I know, for the most part, where I am going, and why. Having a life plan, and living with purpose provides a feeling of having some control over life. I will share how I reached my life plan. How I am able to take charge of my life in my Bucket Of Limitless Opportunity blog, hoping to help others who may be looking for the same.
And I need to take charge, because, hey, I’ve got a bit of a bucket list to knock out!
PR’s Bucket List
Reclaim my house
Improve my health
Exit job (done)
Run a 5k (done)
Run a better 5k
Run a 10k
Complete a 3 week BWCA trip
Introduce 1,000 new people to the outdoors
Restart PR Brady (done)
Write a book
Write another book
Reconnect with friends (starting)
Bike in every state in the USA (that’s bicycle)
Camp in every National Park in the USA
Ride a horse onto a beach and into the ocean
Go on a sail boat live aboard/diving/fishing trip somewhere exotic
Travel all of Europe
Catch a trophy sailfish
Catch a trophy sword fish
Salmon fish in Washington
Catch an 11 lb Walleye
Loose 2 sizes
Loose 20 lbs
Dive Galapagos
Dive Belize
Dive Truk and Yap
Dive the Mediterranean Sea
Hunt and tour Morocco
Spearfish in the Sea of Cortez
Shoot a 25 in trap
Shoot a P&Y deer
Shoot a B&C size anything–but with a bow
Shoot a grand slam (still deciding on species)
Keep chickens
Hunt in every state in North America (already about half way there)
Back pack in the Himalayas
Back pack in South America
Back pack in the Rockies
Tour Alaska for a summer
Tour the USSR and specifically Kiev
Grow an exceptional crop of grapes for making an exceptional bottle of wine
Have my yard crashed by HGTV
Have Dear Genevieve design and do my dream kitchen
And…………
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