Away back in 2012 I wrote a blog post about a travel bucket list. This was at a time when travel was still high on my list of priorities and a huge part of my life plan. Then came the autism diagnosis, debt and health issues for everyone in my household (meaning travel insurance is a bloody nightmare) and travelling was suddenly not on my radar.
Then I started tidying up old posts and republishing them here on RockPaperSpirit and I came across the travel bucket list post from 2012. To be honest, I had forgotten that I had ever wanted to do some of these. Here they are:
1) Walking the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
2) Having a mad weekend at Glastonbury.
3) Visiting the Arctic Circle in June to see what 24 hour daylight is like.
4) Watching a ballet in Russia.
5) Eating a sausage in Germany (not a euphemism).
6) Making a face mask out of fresh Dead Sea mud.
7) People watching in Scandinavia. Any part of it. I have a Viking fetish. I just want to go and perv on the men.
8) Drinking Colombian coffee at a cafe in Plaza Bolivar, Cartagena, Colombia.
9) Sunbathing in Punta del Este, Uruguay.
10) Seeing a Grand Prix at Interlagos.
11) Hawaii. Just being there.
12) Seeing Suburban Legends play in Orange County. Because I <3 them.
13) Making love outdoors in Tuscany. Never got to do that last time I was there.
14) Using monoi I’ve bought in Tahiti and not through mail order.
15) Building a sandcastle in the Caribbean.
16) Going snowboarding in New Zealand.
17) Eating Pakistani food in Pakistan.
18) Going fishing in New Caledonia.
19) Eating proper fondue in Switzerland.
20) Visiting Canada.
Almost six years have passed now and I haven’t done a single one of them. There are maybe three I still feel passionately about doing one day (1, 10 and 12) but the rest I honestly couldn’t care less about. So, I started wondering about my 40 Before 40 List. It was written less than a year ago and even after that short space of time, I’ve already decided those things aren’t important.
I saw a video recently where Tim Minchin, the comedian, was giving a speech at a university. He advised against setting long term goals, the reason being that while you’re striving for something really far away, you’re missing out on what’s close. You’re so busy looking twenty years ahead that you’re not thinking about the short term. At least, that’s what I took from what he said. When I first saw this video I wasn’t sure I agreed with him but having thought about this, and compared the 2012 me with the 2018 me, I am starting to think he’s right. It might be a good idea to now review my 40 Before 40 list, to ensure that I still feel passionately about the things that are listed there and that they’re still what I want.
Did you ever set a goal and feel very enthusiastic about it and then realise a while down the line that you didn’t want it anymore? What did you do?
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