Have you ever been in one of those moods when you don’t really know what is wrong but you feel really irritated with everyone and everything? Very Often, in my case! During one such time, I decided to do something to pep me up. I decided to make my bucket list. I have always had a lot of things penned down in my mind. But never made a list on pen and paper ( read as excel sheet ).
And as the tradition goes, no matter what I do, I start it with a google search. It has become like that little offering we do to the supreme before we start anything new.
The search gave me a series of links with a thousand ideas for a bucket list! I closed all the links one by one because my bucket list has to be “mine” and not influenced by some tourism promotion sites. Bucket list has to be as personal as the most personal nook in your home. You can get inspired by a lot of things that you see around but you have to hand pick each piece depending on your taste and priorities.
One link that I was particularly inspired by during my search was a website by Annette White. She is a serial adventurer and creator of the award-winning travel blog, Bucket List Journey. In her own words, her passion is for checking the world off her bucket list, one adventure at a time.
http://bucketlistjourney.net/my-bucket-list/
She has a list of 1000 things and keeps continuously updating it. Her bucket list is a part of her life and livelihood!
Most of us cannot think of a bucket list of that scale. But it is always nice to have a small personal nook which keeps you motivated at good times and bad.
I have started the process of making my bucket list and that itself is a wonderful journey. Thinking about all the little dreams that I have had since I was a child and putting them into an xl sheet gives me a lot of joy. There will be a lot of additions as I go along. But this will be the starting point.
During this journey I was reminded of my admiration for the father of white revolution in India and how much I wanted to visit Anand, the epicenter of this movement. I had forgotten all about it. But now, Visit to Anand, (In Gujrat, India)  has made into my bucket list.
I was also reminded of my dream of writing a poem and publishing it on a public platform. I was more than happy to tick it off my list.
You Deserve The Best! 
Friend In That Faraway Land
MeVsMe
Some Broken Dreams Never Die!
The Day I Raced With A Butterfly
I have categorized my list into many categories. Some of them are:
Travel and Explore : This includes the destinations that I have always wanted to travel to. There are places where I want to live for a couple of years. There are places where I want to pitch a tent. There are places that I want to go with mom and dad. There are places that I want to go with hubby and kids. There are places that I want to go with my besties. There are road trips that I want to do with my sister.  And there are places that I want to solo travel.
Culinary Related: This ranges from wine tasting in Italy to eating from the roadside eateries. Some of the food shows on TLC have left me salivating and they have also found a place in my list.
Fashion Related: This ranges from wearing  dress by a certain designer to sitting with a weaver and watching the traditional method of cloth making. Getting my nose pierced and wearing a nose ring is one item that I have ticked off in this list.
Health and Fitness / Sports Related: Running 5k , 10K, marathon etc are some of the initial entries. This also includes learning a new sport and watching live matches. Meeting my favorite sports celebrities and clicking a picture with them also makes into this list.
Run Baby Run!
Hobby Related: Attending a hobby workshop to conducting one appears in this list. 🙂
Spiritual: Reading books on Ramana Maharshi to visiting the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Great Mausoleum (normally closed off to visitors but Yogi Pramahamsa Yogananda’s tomb is accessible) in Glendale, California appears in this list.
The other categories include Finance Related, Career Related etc.
My list is getting big and I plan to write about some of them as separate blog entries in the near future.
Another question that comes to one’s mind while making the list is : should we do a feasibility study of the idea or the item before putting it into the list? My personal answer is a BIG NO. I would like to quote Rhonda Byrne at this point : ” Decide what you want … believe you can have it, believe you deserve it, believe it’s possible for you. ” This is the motto I followed while making my bucket list.
The definition of bucket list is : a list of things that one has not done before but wants to do before dying. The origin of this word is from the English word “Kick the Bucket” which was an age old practice of public hanging. In this method of execution, the victim was made to stand on a bucket with a noose tied around his neck. The bucket would then be kicked away and the victim would strangle to death. All other theories about the origin of this word are also connected by the same phenomenon , Death! 
So, bucket the list and live the list before destiny kicks the bucket!

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