Bucket List

One of my assignments when I was graduating high school was to come up with a 30 before 30 list. 30 things I wanted to do or accomplish before I turn 30. While I am several years away from 30, I took a look back at my bucket list from when I was 18. It is funny how things change as you get older. Your outlook on life changes and with any luck you get a little wiser.

 I have had a lot of different experiences over the last several years, both good and bad, that have shaped me into the person I have become and my bucket list had definitely changed. Some of the goals on my 30 before 30 list I have completed like:

1. Give a great speech at graduation

8. Read the Harry Potter Series

Others still remain on my bucket list:

10. Establish a scholarship

13. Visit Rome, Paris, Spain, and Hawaii

18. Run a half marathon

27. Scuba Dive

While some seem to be a little ambitious

 11. Learn to speak Spanish and Italian

12. Work in a foreign country

23. Get out of debt(by 30??? Maybe by 40)

Still others I have completely changed my mind

5. Complete a pediatric residency

20. Spend a month in New York

So I thought I was due for a new bucket list.  I love the whole idea of the bucket list. It gives you some goals and things to work for and it is a list you write down to look back at 5-10 years later and see how different your priorities were at the time.

My goals before 30 are simple:

1. Get into EM Residency

2. Fellowship

3. Sleep

So maybe this is more like my before 40 list:

Adventures

1. Go Scuba Diving. Anywhere really, but I would love to scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef(who wouldn't?) or Hawaii. This has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. Part of this goal is to also see a sea turtle in the wild.

2. Go Sky Diving. My brother went sky diving last November and absolutely loved it! To be honest, I have no idea if I could actually jump out of a plane, but I like the idea. Ideally I'd like to fulfill this goal with my brother at my side. You know, kind of a bonding experience.

3. Go kayaking. I have no idea why. It just looks like a lot of fun.

4. Hike the Inca Trail. 4 days of total beauty(and sweat).

5. Puerto Princesa Underground River! Perhaps I should just say all of the new 7 wonders of the world. But definitely this one!

6. Disaster Medicine: anywhere. I absolutely love the idea of disaster medicine and everything I hear about it is awesome. You are truly making the best clinical decision you can make in an emergency situation and you can help a lot of really desperate people in a single day. One of the main reasons I got into medicine was to help people and what better time than during a disaster situation!

7. Go on a Road Trip. I'm not super picky on this. I have a lot of different places I would like to visit, but this is more like getting into the car and just driving and see where I end up.

8. Visit a Volcano. When my sister and I were 8-12 we spent the summers with my grandparents and my sister had a major fascination with Volcanoes. So of course as the little sister I also got interested in Volcanoes. So this is a sisters trip to fulfill a childhood dream.

9. Sail around the San Francisco Bay. I have lots of travel wishes that I could write about, but this one is more of a repeat. In 2009, I went to San Francisco for a wedding and had an amazing time. It is such a beautiful place(with no parking) and while we did take a quick boat ride around the Bay, I would love to just sail for a full day.

10. See all of the US "things to see" like the Grand Canyon, Statue of Liberty, Nigeria Falls.

Personal

11. Write a book. I have no idea what I would write about, but I have always wanted to write a novel of some kind. Maybe during Novel November one year.

12. Establish a scholarship. Paying for med school has not been the easiest thing to do and I truly believe that anyone who has the ability should be allowed to follow their dreams even if graduate school is entirely too expensive. I received several private scholarships my senior year of high school to help pay for my first year and I hope to be able to help someone else in the future the way people helped me.

13. Build my dream house. I have been working on my dream house for years. The most important thing is the master bathroom(of course!). But I'd like to have a large kitchen with 2 stoves, a walk out basement, a craft room, a library, and guest rooms to have family stay on holidays. That is the short of it. I could probably write a blog post just on my dream house!

14. Go Technology free for a week. One week of no internet, no phone, no TV. Live off the grid for a few days. Preferably on a beach.

15. Play Messy Twister. What a fun idea! I equally like the dart board with paint filled balloons idea.

16. Get my pilots license. One of our family friends(Stan), once told me the natural progression is to go from snorkeling, to scuba diving, to sky diving, and then to flying the plane. So of course this only makes sense!

17. Spend a week laying on the beach(I think that speaks for itself)

18. Spend a full day baking lots of yummy things from scratch! Like breads, cookies, cake, cheesecake, and something totally different!

19. Make baby/children's quilts and donate them to the local children's hospital.

20. Be my ideal weight. I just think that as a future physician you just have to have on your bucket list. The odds are probably better that I will see 100 if I'm my ideal weight.

One of the things I love about this bucket list is that there are things on there that were never on my bucket list before, because I'm not as afraid as I use to be. I have no idea if I will get through my list before 40, but I'm hopeful and I'm sure I'll add more things along the way!