You Are Not Your Bucket List

You may have noticed the "50 in 500" tab on my homepage.  I am certainly not the first to come up with a thing. These days everyone has a bucket list of things they want to do and see.  It seems to be a symptom of our generation that we want to make sure that we are getting a lot of things "done" in our limited time on this earth.  A noble sentiment.

Lately, I wonder if this mindset is appropriate for the type of activities that one typically finds on these lists.  For example, some of my "goals" include a backpacking trip with friends and family in the Sierra back-country, and a wine-tasting tour with my mom.  The point of these activities is to enjoy the time spent with people that I care about, engaged in activities that I enjoy doing.  I'm not sure that would qualify them as goals.

When Kalvin and I completed the C2C, one of the most difficult day-treks in the world, it wasn't "having done it" that was important so much as the "doing it."  It was the camaraderie, the effort and willpower that was required for every step, the shitty motivational songs that we made up, and it was the triumphant beer-guzzling at the bar afterward that made it worth doing.  The point is, the photographic summit moments are almost always anti-climactic.  The last steps were no more significant than any of the hundreds of thousands before it.  At the end of the day, it was both less and more than an item to be checked off a list.  Less, because an activity done for no purpose other than "fun" is not properly a goal, and more, because the time spent in exertion and challenge, and in the company of good people cannot be defined so easily as with a check mark.

I am too ignorant of the interwebz to figure out how to change the title on my "50 on 500" tab, but I am going to start thinking about it simply as a Someday/Maybe list of things that I would like to do.  There are no time limits, and there are no penalties for anything left undone.  I will simply resolve to live an adventurous life and trust that this will lead me naturally to spend my time among good friends and good times. 

* Thanks to Juliana and Linda who helped me fix the title of the tab

If you liked this, you might like:

Desert Heat, Vertical Elevation & Testicular Fortitude 
Learning to take it easy
Pussification

A Note on "Bucket Lists"

    Floreta recently posted what will be the beginning of her "bucket list."  She also talked a bit about how she wasn't sure why so many of these life lists focused on physical goals and adventures.  Looking back over my now-defunct 101 goals in 1001 days list, I am certainly guilty of that.  Most of the things that I wanted, and still want to do, all revolve around seeing, being and doing.  I want to climb mountains, run races, win fights, and travel to exotic locations.  The thing that is nagging at me a bit is that I am not really sure why I want these things.
    The easy answer is that I want these things because I enjoy them.  For hiking, backpacking, and climbing, I enjoy the challenge of it.  I enjoy getting away from the city and seeing naturally beautiful things.  For boxing, I enjoy the training even, and especially when it is at it's most grueling.  I enjoy competing...you know, so long as everything is going well.  Even if it doesnt, I always enjoy having competed.  For travel, I love seeing new places, exploring exotic locales, and checking out the ethnic women.  Plus, theres always the better than average chance of getting involved in some kind of adventure. 
    While I love all these different activities that will make up any life list that I ever take the time to make, a part of me loves them because I like the image of me that it creates.  I like being a traveler, outdoorsman, boxer.  And that seems a little shallow.  It should be enough that I do these things without the need to identify myself as such.