It’s funny because most of the time, you think about the items you want to put on your bucket list, not the ones you would never add. But when the topic of bucket lists came up in conversation, some of the stuff my friends wanted to try, you couldn’t pay me to do. Unless. In all seriousness though, it made me think about the imaginary boundaries I set for myself, my comfort zone, and how far I would be willing to push the bounds. And even though I want to be the type of person who says, “Carpe diem” and just goes for it, I’m not. So here are five, typical bucket list items that I will never end up on my bucket list.
- Fly in a Hot Air Balloon
-
I don’t know why, but the idea of being at the liberty of wind and the concept of convection freaks me out. There are so many ways this could go wrong. What if my hot air balloon crashes into another? What if the wind picks up and suddenly the person who is supposed to be able to control the balloon can’t? There are all these factors that are out of my control, and the fact that I would be hundreds of feet in the air, terrifies me. I will gladly stay on the ground and watch all the balloons above me.
- Caving
-
Some of my friends really want to try this and even plan to take a caving class Tech offers, but this is not for me. Even as a child, I remember being afraid of tubular slides. I know I won’t get stuck in them, but the idea that I could, scares me. So with caving, and I’ve never been before so I’m just going off of my assumptions, there are probably instances when you have to squeeze through tight spaces and such, which would scare me. Not only the idea of getting stuck in the hole or wherever, but also not being able to come back out. This might be completely irrational, but I would never be able to do this.
- Go on a Cruise
-
A bunch of people have been on cruises and a bunch of people want to go on one, but I would never want to go on a cruise. This might seem silly, but I have just seen too many “cruises gone wrong” stories on the news that I have been deterred.
- Going Bird-Watching
-
I have a strange fear of birds. When I was a kid, there were woodpeckers in my backyard and they would peck holes in my house. For some reason, my 8-year-old brain thought, if they can peck through my home, they could peck through me if given the chance. So from then on, birds have freaked me out. I mean, if you think about it, their beaks are pretty strong, so theoretically, they could peck your face or whatnot. So I would avoid basically any bucket list item having to do with birds.
- Hold a snake around my neck
-
I honestly don’t like anything around my neck, even necklaces. I probably wouldn’t even hold a snake, nevertheless hold one around my neck. Given the fact that snakes like to constrict their prey or enemies, the thought of giving a snake easy access to constricting my neck doesn’t sound all that appealing.