Bucket list

I don't know about you, but I found myself in a post holiday rut this year.  I came back from an amazing trip with my family to New York City and found falling back into the day to day tough.  I felt uninspired, tired, and unfocused.  After a week of that I decided I'd had enough so one Friday night I decided to forgo making plans, stay in and do something to make myself feel inspired again.  

I have this huge chalkboard I keep above the fire place in my living room.  I wrote a huge quote on it when I bought it and then never really did anything with it.  It was time for a change.  I pulled out my chalkboard markers, wrote "bucket list" in large letters at the top and then spent the next few hours filling the board with all the things I wanted to do in my life.  As I wrote I realized how much I'd already been lucky enough to do and all the amazing things I had to look forward to.  Once I was done I put the chalkboard back in its place on my mantle so I'd always have my goals close by. 

I've always believed there is a power in writing things down.  Writing out my bucket list changed my outlook.  It helped me refocus on the things that mattered to me and gave me clarity on where I am trying to go.  It was very clear when I looked over what I wrote that there were a few things that really mattered to me: travel, yoga/fitness, family, helping others, and challenging myself in my work.  Creating my bucket list helped me then create my goals for 2015 and bigger goals I wanted to accomplish in years to come.

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Developing your own bucket list

All you need is a paper, pen, and a little inspiration!  

• Think outside the box: these are goals for your lifetime!  Let some them be big, crazy, inspiring goals
• Target different areas of your life: What are you looking to accomplish in your career? Your personal life?  
• Take your time.  Its a lot to process all at once.  Write things down as them come.  Let your list evolve as you do.
• Find inspiration.  Read other peoples bucket lists.  Maybe create a Pinterest board to pin things to when you see them.
• Not all your bucket list items have to be lofty goals.  You can keep it simple with some of your items.
• Find things that inspire YOU. Don't just write things down because they sound good or you think they should be on there.
• Have fun!  

I'll look back on this and smile because it was life and I decided to live it