Living Your Best Life!
When you hear the words Bucket List. What is the first thing that comes to mind? A trip around the world. Flying your own airplane. Taking Cooking classes in Italy. Our dreams are endless.
Bucket Lists can consist of so many different things such as:
- What you want to accomplish – learn a new language fluently
- Which countries you would like to visit – I am sure we have many on our lists
- Things you’d would like to experience – such as activities like going to an elephant sanctuary in Thailand
I highly doubt anybody’s bucket lists look the same. Some may be full of adventure, where other’s may just be personal accomplishments or joyous experiences.
As an avid traveler, most of my bucket list is travelling and experiencing the world. I once heard that you should never just have a list of countries you want to see but a more thorough list of what you want to do in each country. For example: If you have always wanted to go up in a Hot Air Balloon, don’t just go up in one in your hometown, but plan on doing it in a Country that you would love the experience in. Some suggestions would be hot air ballooning over the Serengetti while animals roam below you or joining the biggest hot air balloon festival in New Mexico while hundreds of balloons are in the air all at once. How about flying over the Nile in Egypt or over the mushroom chimney tops in Cappadocia, Turkey. There are so many possibilities! This suggestion has always stuck with me. It’s really made me get creative thinking about the kinds of things I want to accomplish in my life.
To dream broadens the mind. It makes life exciting and once you start completing some things on your list,
it gives you the sense of living, really living.
Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to travel a total of 6.5 months in Europe and another 7 weeks in Mexico. Talk about living my bucket list! It has been the most amazing experience of my life! Meeting people from around the world, learning about different cultures, seeing countries I never even heard of before. It has taught me great problem solving skills and I’ve realized I’m a much stronger person than I thought. It has expanded my love for different cultures and opened my heart to people of the world. It’s true. Travelling changes you. It makes you appreciate more, love more, and see the world with open eyes. The world is no longer such a scary place. Perspectives change.
I realize most people can’t take more than a couple of weeks off of work at a time but you can still have all the same experiences in a two week trip than a 6 month. When travelling for long periods of time, you rarely stay in one spot longer than a week so it really isn’t much different as every time you move cities it starts a new experience.
One my last trip to Europe, I accomplished something on my bucket list that I was really excited to experience!
It was one of those things I really wanted to do, but fear would always stop me from doing it. Let me start from the beginning….. About 12 years ago, I was enjoying a nice sunny summer afternoon on one of our local ski hills and saw people running off the edge of the cliff. What was that? Paragliding I was told. I thought, wow, I would love to do that! Then Suddenly, the fear set in. (You know that feeling? – I can see you nodding your head) Nope, I probably never would… too scary… but deep down I wanted to try. Fast forward to last summer in Slovenia, I saw Paragliding being advertised over lake Bohinj. Everyday I tried to talk myself into going but everyday I chickened out. The final day when I was leaving and driving to the airport, some people in my shuttle told me they had done it that morning and it was awesome! I asked them about jumping off the cliff and they said oh no, you just run and the parachute lifts you before the edge. Huh? Really? I thought excitedly, I think I could do that!
Fast forward to this summer. Olundeniz Turkey. Looking up over the resort area I counted over 50 in the sky, all at once. I hadn’t planned on paragliding this trip but what a beautiful place to do so! (For $80 CAD, what an opportunity!) After calculating that they must do over 500 jumps a day, and that it appeared to be very safe especially as I am watching kids under the age of 10 flying through the sky like it was no big deal, it was now or never. So now it was! As we were driving up the mountain I decided I would have to jump because the drive with all the cliffs was too scary to come back down the same way. There was no turning back. Up I went….. 5500 ft. Holy we were high! I ran down the cement slab with my tandem instructor and was lifted up before the edge of the cliff. 35 minute ride to the bottom. What an experience! I figured I would be shaking when I landed but to my surprise I wasn’t!
Knowing I did it seems so surreal. I have pictures, so I know it happened. Not something I would have ever actually done but sometime you have to do the things that you fear the most. They usually turn out to be the most memorable experiences. Would I do it again? maybe… but probably not. Once was enough. BUT am I glad I did it… Yep! The experience was awesome! I think that I reached my scariest point. Will I ever skydive, nope… .but then again, never say never!
Why am I sharing this experience with you? Because I encourage you to live! Do what you fear. It may change your life! I always thought bucket lists were for the retired. But why? Why wait for retirement? You may never get to retirement AND you may not have your health like you do now. If you are checking things off your bucket list throughout your everyday life, you are LIVING and EXPERIENCING THINGS that you want to accomplish in your life so your life will be enhanced just by going out and accomplishing what you want to do!
When I look back over the past year, I think WOW…. that was MY life. I never thought I would get to travel the world for months at a time or be brave enough to do it alone. (One day I will share with you how something tragic changed my perspective on life and made me realize how short life is) but for now, I encourage you to dream big and work towards making your dreams happen! It might not happen overnight, and maybe some things on your list will never happen. BUT … if you don’t imagine it, it will never happen. I created Vacations Priced Right to help people live their travel dreams. Help people travel to places that they never thought they could afford. If you don’t have a bucket list (or a list of goals), I encourage you to start. Dream, get excited, live your best life! Yes, you may not have the money to reach all your goals or dreams at the moment,
but one day you might, and you want to be ready!
Some of my ultimate dreams (or goals) that I hope to tick off one day:
- Sleeping overnight in the desert and watching all the stars in the sky
- Learning to speak a new language fluently; taking Spanish Classes in Antigua, Guatamala for 5 weeks
- Lying on a catamaran in the South Pacific
- Staying in an overwater Bungalow in Bora Bora
- Backpacking the small islands just outside of Vancouver, BC
- Hiking the beautiful mountains in BC and getting to know my own Province (I have a hiking list I’m slowly checking off)
- Riding a camel in Morocco or Egypt
- Seeing the Northern Lights in Iceland or Finland while sleeping in an igloo globe
What are you dreams or goals? What will make you feel like you are living your best life? Write them down. Create a dream board….Share! We want to hear all about your dreams!
I leave you with……Take those dance classes, learn a new language, volunteer overseas for a week or two. Do what makes you excited! LIVE. Share your dreams! I may be aging but my heart is still a kid. Do those crazy things, have fun! Don’t care what people will think! Trust me once you start living there is no stopping you.
