I am standing on the shoulders of my past. Looking out towards a hopeful horizon. I see birds with an expanse of blue feathers, They soar as if nothing matters, unaware of any predator, Looking down towards my feet. My toes are curled and gripping and I concentrate for a secure balance. I realise nothing is solid. A small breeze or a tumultuous movement, hundreds of feet below me can change everything.
How can our paths be written an a piece of paper that can flitter away on a breeze? I may have never met my one true love. I could have stumbled and soared towards a different road. I could have walked in an opposite direction looking for something else. My mind could have changed as I decided that maybe dance was not career and destiny. My mother could have not got sick and we could have moved inland. How easy it would have been to have lived a life without you. How easy it would have been for a breeze to have switched direction and miss you and not bring you into my life. How easily it could have all been different. But this was the life that created itself around me My birth started out with a blank canvas and all the people I met along the way were the artists. It was them that added perspective, colour and tone contrast shadows and light to my life. Without them my existence would have been meaningless.
I remember writing this when I was feeling low and helpless. I believed that fate had a power over me and that all the forward planning I was expected to do had little chance if the universe had other plans. Was it the people around me and external situations that destined my path? If fate has so much power over us why create goals and bucket lists.
Can a bucket list help you to climb out of your comfort zone?
According to Teresa Smith who is the founder of support group, ‘Suddenly Single,’ “I think now more than ever people are going to throw caution to the wind & fly out of their comfort zones. Lockdown meant heads down for a lot of people feeling extremely fearful for their future. Now, as we ease out of lockdown people are beginning to look up. These are the ones that create their bucket lists. We all need something to look forward to, and what better way than creating our next chapter with a list to focus on & to believe we can fly.
Lists can obviously help you jump out of your comfort zone, mine certainly motivated me. My favourite one was deciding I wanted to paint an elephant. This encouraged me, to look up where in India, I should go to. Jaipur seemed to be the place, so that was where I went.
Did fate jump in, and introduce me to a family who have become close friends and business partners? Just because I wrote down on my list that I wanted to paint decorative designs on an elephant.
Strangely enough it was not when I originally created my list, that motivated me, Reading back on the old ones and noticing what I had achieved from those goals are the ones that have the most impact on me., I would find myself running for my note pad, to start scribbling again.
Mindset Mentor Dione Lockyer says, “The one sentence that has stick with me for years my Mom in Law taught me was, ‘No one can ever take your dreams away from you.’ To dream is healthy, as is creating goals and bucket lists. Every single individual is different. Some are happy with their lives just the way it is, where as others always crave or seek more. Each of these are perfectly fine and we shouldn’t box or label either. From a professional view, it all comes down to mindset. If you want something bad enough and truly believe in you capabilities, you will naturally take yourself out of your comfort zone to achieve it. I, for one am a seeker. I seek challenges, growth, excitement but it can at times create a negative emotion. Expectations and anxiety are very closely linked due to the cortisol hormone in our brain. The answer is to acknowledge what ever feeling you have, and learn to let it go. Ask yourself how important is it to you to complete your bucket list? If its something you TRULY desire, taking yourself out of your comfort zone will not be questioned.“
When I look at what I have not achieved, I usually react with two mindsets.
- I can put them back on my list
- I could not have wanted to do them badly enough and then I cross them off.
Then I give myself a pat on the back for achieving what I had written down. As I have gotten older, the fun of writing a bucket list generates my courage and determination to achieve more things that I have not previously bothered with – but have always wanted to.
Writing a bucket list is usually associated with travel. People write “I want to see the Taj Mahal or climb Mount Everest before I die. According to https://www.bucketlist.net/ideas/ The top five are:-
- See the Northern Lights.
- Sky Dive.
- Get a tattoo.
- Go on a cruise.
- Swim with Dolphins.
Personally, I tend to write silly stuff because those are the ones that I seem to achieve. The big stuff seems to link on to those. Yes I have seen the Taj Mahal because I had this desire to paint an Elephant. Seeing Les Mis and sharing the experience with my son Joe opened up his love for this musical and his love of the theatre leading to a career in acting. Our bucket ideas can also impact others..
You want to live your best life before you Kick the Bucket as we say, so start thinking of the best things to do before you die. However, remember to stay aware. Fate is probably waiting for us to make that first move and jump on the journey with us just to send us in different directions.
Nothing has impacted our lives recently as much as COVID19. People who thought they were going in one direction are now either grounded or are having to make a complete about turn. The places you thought you were going to and the stuff you have planned to do will now have to be re-written and as that blank, empty page syndrome sets in, you chew the end of your worn pencil wondering – ‘What Next’.
Because of Covid19, fate has had the upper hand here, Is that what you think? Do you agree? is it possible that fate is forcing you out of a comfort zone and pushing you to do something great, something unexpected, something so incredible that you will look back in years to come, and you will be saying:-
If it wasn’t for the Corona Virus, I would never of done …………….. ?
Do you have a bucket list? Have you changed it because of Corona virus?. Leave your comment below.
At the top of my BUCKET LIST l have now written “Raise 5.000 euros to send to the school in India”
I am fund raising with Buymeacoffee.com. If you enjoyed this article you can go to my page https://www.buymeacoffee.com/laurenstaton and help me with this project. Every cup of coffee donated will make a difference. More details on there.
LATEST!!!!! Buy two cups of coffee, and I will send you a face mask made from 100% Certified Organic cotton, Made by ladies working in the Saksham project in Jaipur. They will be available in two weeks.
