Living My Bucket List Life

What exactly is a bucket list life, Corinne, I hear you say

Most of us are familiar with the idea of bucket list. Some of us might call it a dream list or a life list but in its most basic form it's a list of things you'd like to do, see or experience before you die. Morbid, I know, but think of the feeling you get when you cross something off your bucket list, the joy in the experience, the fulfillment of knowing that you got it done, the fun times you have in creating the memory. The problem with the bucket list concept is, most people cross stuff off their bucket list once a year, if that, and in between crossing off one item and the next? It's the daily grind and for a lot of us, it's feeling stuck and blah and unfulfilled and like you're not really living a life with meaning and purpose. That was me too, until I decided one day that I didn't want to feel like that any more. That's when the idea of living a bucket list life was born. Now, as much as I would love it to be (and one of my goals is to make this a reality one day!) about crossing items off your bucket list more often, it's actually about bringing that joy and fun and fulfillment to your every day life. It's about empowering you to give yourself permission to live your life with purpose, whatever that means to you, and having the life that you truly want. Not the life that society tells us we should have, but the one that you really want, the one you daydream about in secret but have convinced yourself you can't have. I'm here to tell you, you can, you can have what you really want and be living your best life every day. And that, my friends, is what a bucket list life is. As my friend Eeyore here would say, it never hurts to keep looking for sunshine. For me, that means it's never too late to change your life, you've just got to give yourself permission to say yes! Time to kick stuck and blah to the curb and say no more!

Why I'm so excited to do this!

Where it all began...

It was 2013 and I'd been running my own business somewhat successfully for the last 10 years. I say somewhat successfully because I'd gotten it to the point where I was comfortable but I was always finding excuses not to try and make it grow. From the outside looking in, I had a pretty good life. I was my own boss, my business was doing well, I was travelling once or twice a year. That's a good lot of things ticked off the list that society says we should aspire to. But I was never truly happy. For the longest time, I was convinced that it was because I just needed to grow the business to the point where I could work in it less and travel more and that would somehow magically fix everything. So I started looking into ways to grow the business, which kicked off a 3 year, fairly expensive journey of doing every kind of training available to market the business, grow it, build a list, become a speaker. You name it, I did it. Well, I attempted to do it. Most of the time, I started a course, got bored and never finished it. I even started a bunch of side hustles that never came to fruitiion either LOL.

Then on May 24, 2016 I went to see a movie called Be Here Now. If you haven't heard of it, it's a documentary about actor Andy Whitfield and his battle with cancer. Unfortunately, Andy lost his battle, but the point of the documentary was for him to be here now, to be present and living the best life he could in the current moment because he wasn't guaranteed his next one. It was the one thing he and his partner wanted everyone to take away from the movie. And as credits started to roll, I had a literal light bulb moment. It was my big Oprah ah ha moment where I realised that reason that I was never truly happy was because I wasn't living my best life. I wasn't living my purpose. I was running the business I was because it was something I was good at, not something I was passionate about. And as the lights came back up in the theatre, I realised that my life's purpose was to help other's discover and live theirs. After all, I'd always been the cheerleader for my friends and family, encouraging them to do things they didn't think were possible, so why not bring that love to everyone?

I left the theatre more motivated than I'd ever been in my life and started researching how I could make this my reality. My family and friends thought I was nuts. The business community I was part of thought I was nuts and as I let everyone else's doubts start to creep in, I convinced myself that really what my purpose was, was to help people feeling stuck in their businesses like I was find a way to be unstuck. Cue another 8 months of me doing every type of coaching and business growth course known to man and, somewhat unsurprisingly, still feeling stuck and unfullfilled and not entirely happy. Then in February 2017, I went to Las Vegas. 

What happens in Vegas doesn't alway stay in Vegas...

I was in Las Vegas for a week with a friend and we had decided we were going to do as many of the ridiculously touristy things you could do. We went to the top of the fake Eiffel Tower, we trained to be part of the Marvel S.H.I.E.L.D team and we got a diploma declaring us crime scene investigators after solving a fake murder thanks to CSI. The common theme through the whole trip was everywhere we went, people were telling us that we were bringing them joy. That we were having such a great time, that it was giving the people around us permission to have a great time too. And that's when I realised that I was still stuck in the same pattern of trying to please everyone else and living up to society's expectations and that's why I still wasn't truly happy. When I was helping people bring joy into their own lives, even in the smallest ways, I was at my happiest. I felt fulfilled even by those tiny gestures. 

So, on the plane ride home I finally gave myself permission to live my best life. And my best life was going to be defined by me and everyone else's doubts were for them and for them alone. I've kept that feeling with me ever since and on those days where the doubts start creeping in, I remind myself of that feeling. I got 100% clear on what it was I was meant to do and what would give my life meaning and I started living it. I still only travel once a year or so but now that I'm living a bucket list life in between, everything has changed. I'm so much happier, so much more confidence and it's been so much easier building this business. And now I'd love to do the same for you. Building a business might not be the answer for you (and a lot of people do make this mistake because they think being their own boss is going to solve all their problems) but figuring out what your life purpose is and living that every day will. You'll start having more fun, more joy, more confidence and feel fulfilled when you're living something that's meaningful for you. And after all, that's what it's all about, am I right?

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