“What’s your bucket list?”
At a dinner party last week, the subject of “aging with purpose” came up. My dinner companion, another elder, asked me what things I still had on my “bucket list.” I thought for a minute and realized many of the things I would have said at a younger age I had actually accomplished. Others, like my early desire to build a 50 foot sailing yacht, learn how to sail well, and then mosey around the world for a year or two. have been off the list for a long time. Especially after talking with two couples who had done it and came away with a bunch of hi-lights but mostly long stretches of pure boredom. Their comment,”the ocean is just plain huge.” For myself and wife, it turns out, kayak paddling and camping in the Canadian South Gulf islands suffices much better for our actual psychologies.
My bucket leaks – and well it should!
My bucket list has leaks in the bottom. And that’s very fine with me. For instance diving from a 100 foot cliff into pure blue water, or going off a ski jump for a hundred meter flight, or climbing the face of El Capitan, are all activities I am glad leaked out of the bottom of my bucket list.
Today, I enjoy the process: Seeing plays; reading a good book sitting on a rock with the McKenzie river, and an occasional rafter rushing by; doing an energetic dance; building one of my fused glass creations; writing a post for this blog, sitting beside our garden stove; having an engaging conversation down at the local coffee shop about whatever is topical at the moment. These are the things I now enjoy. I don’t need, or so I think, a bucket list.
Time article about aging with purpose
At about this time, TIME magazine came out with an article about a study which showed people having a purpose in life helps them maintain functions and independence as they age. I wonder where my love of activities fits on their purpose of life measuring stick?
People in the study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, who reported having goals and a sense of meaning were less likely to have weak grip strength and slow walking speeds: two signs of declining physical ability and risk factors for disability.
It’s a interesting article and here is the Time Magazine link: Aging with purpose.