Bucket List

Usually when you think about bucket lists you think about all the things you 
want to do before you die. From the day we're born we all have a clock ticking counting down 

to our last days on the earth. When I was first diagnosed at a young age of 18 I 
started to work on my list with the thinking I had a shorter time. 

Now 24 years later I had to revisit that list and 
look at the life I was living today. Now that it was obvious I wasn't going anywhere soon.

No matter what your health status is we sometimes hit a point when we stop living and we start getting 

comfortable. We stop chasing our dreams for many reasons which may be health, family 
responsibility or complacency. 
We forget to push ourselves because we know that pushing requires change and 
change is walking in a land of the unknown which can be scary. 
I choose to walk into that forest of the unknown and shake my life up. 
I did this by creating a different version of a bucket list. One that doesn't 
require me to wait until I'm close to death but a list of fifty things I want to 
do in the next three years.

I focused on four categories, place to travel, things I want to experience, changes in my health

and self reflections.

 It's intimidating at first,  how do I make a list 
when I don't even know what I'm wearing for tomorrow. But believe me once you start the list your
ideas flow.

Since starting my list I started to cross items off.

 And each item checked was a affirmation of the growth I was experiencing. I saw myself doing things 
that I thought I would never do. 
I learned how to swim. Something I never did in my life.
I traveled to places that I always wanted to visit such as Italy, Germany, New Orleans and such.

 I made it a goal to touch all the waters that surrounded the states and made it so.
On my list was to stop eating at fast food places and drink water everyday.

Now that  was hard as I loved my Popeye's but my Popeye's was slowly killing me. 
Instantly I noticed the difference as well as others asking how did I dropped the weight. 
I made a commitment to start attending a church, the most rewarding goal on my list. 
I started to learn Spanish and Italian and can speak both not excellent yet but 
on my way. 
I won't list the rest but in reflection I made a promise to start living my life for me and not for others. I 
made a promise to myself that my life was going to be the way I want it to be. I 
no longer was going to audition for people. I was going to be free.  
I still have a year and a half to finish out my contract but looking forward

to the new challenges and experiences. 

I let other things such as my status and the opinions of others hold me back, but no longer. 

I'm reclaiming my life!!