Do you have a bucket list? A list of goals you wish to achieve, dreams you want fulfill and experiences you want to have before your life expires?
Me neither.
My interaction with the world isn’t through a filter of “I want to.” I don’t look at something and say “Some day.” I don’t wait for the cards to fall into place or the tickets to go on sale.
It’s a lesson I credit my dad for teaching me. I think the common cliche used to describe someone like my Pops is “no moss grows” on him. He was a ball of energy that believed anything was possible with just a bit of WD40. If you want to go, go. If you want to see someone, drop in. If you want to visit a foreign country, buy the ticket. Just do it.
There are times when I look back on my childhood and wonder how it was I managed to survive. My dad’s big plans weren’t always well thought out and most lived in this grey area that would be illegal or at least frowned upon today.
I lied. In a way. Well, sort of. It’s true that I don’t have a bucket list. But I do have a bucket ITEM: See Ireland.
For the longest time I fought the urge to plug my credit card numbers into the British Airlines website to purchase a ticket to Ireland. It wasn’t because of some odd intuition telling me to wait. Or even a fear of flying. Although, if anyone asked, that’s what I told them.
My hesitation came from a more ridiculous train of thought. What if it doesn’t live up to my expectations. What if Ireland is nothing more than how I imagined it? What if it doesn’t live up to the hype in books, movies or described by friends? Or my own mental hype? Or worse . . . what if I have the same exact adventure as everyone else? What if it isn’t special?
I know. I rolled my eyes too. (I did say it was ridiculous, didn’t I?)
Does everyone worry about disappointment? Is that what a bucket list is? A list of things you hope are awesome but worry will just be a disappointment?
I lived with this inner struggled between the side of me motivated by genetics that says “Just do it” and this other side that says . . . “Yeah, but what if it sucks?”
At least I would know.
It’s that simple. I can’t predict the outcome of every event, adventure, flight, encounter or situation from behind my computer screen, also know as my crystal ball.
Just do it. In the end, my Pops was right. Genetics won out.
My other half and I are headed for Ireland in May. We’re going to watch an Irish Football League game, attend a music gala and a slow food festival. I may even pop into an Irish Toastmasters meeting.
The take away: If you want to do something, just do it. It’s level of awesome depends on you!