Welp! It’s that time of year again! The new year has begun, and everyone you know is doing his or her best to stick to his or her resolutions. And, while resolutions can be helpful (personally, mine have been to drink more water, read more books and get to the gym more often), they can also be boring as hell. Half the time, making a resolution just means convincing yourself to start fulfilling the basic requirements for a healthy life (see me and my permanently dehydrated self as proof).
Where’s the fun in telling yourself to do these daily self-care chores though? Are they necessary? Yeah. But the new year is also a great time to inspire yourself to do newer and better things, so why not use it to do something exciting? Where you usually might use the new year to reset your survival skills, why not use this opportunity to aspire to something?
I’m talking about making a bucket list.
New Year’s bucket lists, I think, encapsulate a much more exciting attitude toward kicking off the new year, and they will hopefully add a little more wonder and pizzazz to your life than the “Get your 75 oz. today!” reminder on my phone does for me.
How should you begin formulating a proper bucket list?
I think categories are an easy way to plan things, so I’m going to start with Travel because that’s an easy bucket list thing. I will visit five new cities I’ve never seen before. I will be a tourist in my own town for one day. I will go on that YA-inspired road trip I always wanted to, during the next break. You get the idea.
Another easy category is Friendships. Make a friendship bucket list! I will get coffee with a new person, every week this year. I will reach out to at least three middle school, high school or summer friends I haven’t spoken to in a while and catch up. Alternatively (and this might be a hard one), I will have that difficult conversation with a pal about how they’ve been treating me and potentially cut a toxic person out of my life, this year.
As a random adventure person, I think these kinds of bucket list items are also important, like Jump off a lake bridge. Climb a water tower. Break into a graveyard. Research abandoned buildings in my area, go out there with a friend and sneak around. If you never really shook that troublemaker energy you had as a kid, go exploit it now that you have the independence to and cross a few items off your 2020 list. [Disclaimer: I am not encouraging you to commit crimes, only to explore your more adventurous side. Also, please don’t do anything that will result in your own physical harm, nor the physical harm of others.]
Personal development is yet another category! As far as your academic or professional life goes, set goals for yourself. By 2021, I will have landed that internship. I will have booked an audition with an agency. I will have interviewed for something I didn’t think was in my league because I decided I wasn’t too scared to try. Whatever it is for you, above all, don’t set limits on yourself!
Self-Care is another great category! Last, but not least, set some bucket list items that are there for the benefit of your own inner psyche. By 2021, I will trust my gut more. By 2021, I will find my validation not in others’ approval, but in my own sense of self-worth. By 2021, I will be an even stronger, more confident version of my current self. I will love others better. I will love myself better.
You know. All the things that you deserve.
Whatever it is you end up deciding to add to your 2020 bucket list, I hope you experience a year of personal discovery, adventure and excitement, as well as the kind of laughter that makes your face hurt and endless happiness. Happy New Year, everyone!