Well, it’s that time of year again and Christmas is upon us. As we wrap up the year and reflect on all that was in it, we also start to give an eye to the year ahead and what goals we may want to achieve, or things we may want to do, etc.
At the end of every year I generally do spend a bit of time taking stock across the board. I’ll do a finance review and think about what I’m saving, investing, etc. I’ll think about what projects I’d like to do for work and around the house in the year ahead. I’ll also spend a bit of time looking at any goals I have, spend a bit of time thinking about what I achieved in the last year and what I would like to aim for next.
Overall, it’s the full gambit and, of course, there is always some hiking stuff in there as far as goals go! These usually come from my overall bucket list which is always up for potential editing as things chop and change.
Now I should say a bucket list isn’t really the same as a goals list but they can crossover. I don’t want to get into the differences in great detail, I’m sure most of you know them already, but suffice it to say that some goals can be on your bucket list.
For Example
I may have a goal to learn how to speak Spanish as it’s good for my business, but I wouldn’t necessarily put it on my bucket list. It may be something I want to achieve but it doesn’t excite me in terms of experience and so on.
However, utilizing that Spanish for my trip to hike the Inca Trail is another story. My trip to the Inca Trail may be a goal I want to make happen this year but it also happens to be in my top ten on my bucket list.
So What’s a Bucket List?
Most folks will know straight off the bat what a bucket list is but for those who don’t, it’s a list of all the things you want to do before you leave the great blue planet and move on to whatever may or may not come next, also known as dying 🙂
Now, if you’re new to this, you may be a little freaked out when you first think about it as by doing this exercise, you do need to, at some level, contemplate your own death. Maybe not exactly a fun thing to reflect on but a fact none the less.
Although it may sound a bit odd, I can assure you it isn’t a morbid exercise at all, quite the opposite. If you haven’t already, it can be a lot of fun to make a bucket list for EVERYTHING you want to do and, if you’re into hiking, there is no end of potential hiking trips and adventures you can add to that list.
How to do it?
Well, this is the real easy bit 🙂 As mentioned above, I highly recommend you do this across the board for every area of your life. Start with some basic questions and reflect on them. Where do you want to go? What do you want to see?
Maybe Safari in Africa? Moonlight skinny dipping off the Amalfi coast? Drink rice wine with the locals in a village in Vietnam? Drive a Porsche? Fly a Helicopter? Visit Graceland? Watch a sunrise on the Sahara ( I’ve done that one, was sweet 🙂 )Hike the Appalachian Trail?
Remember though, it doesn’t always have to be something exotic or crazy, it can be something as simple as that trip to visit your old college buddies that you haven’t seen in years. You get the idea, on and on till you get a good list together.
Now, I highly recommend that you do your best to leave your logical brain aside for this exercise. Forget that you don’t have the money right now, forget about all the potential barriers to everything you’d ever want to do. Leave all that to the side and just make your list. Go all out and have some fun, no limits!
You can make the list as big or small as you want to. I recommend aiming for 100 things! Now, believe it or not, that can be a lot harder to do than you might think. If 100 is too many, pick a number you’re comfortable with. You’ll get a feel for it once you start.
Fine Tuning
When you have your first list, say 100 things. Go back over it and think about which ones really grab you. This will happen with little effort as you’ll just know the ones that really speak to you. when you’ve done that, I recommend ordering them from the top thing you want to do, to the one you’re least passionate about.
COOL! Now you have a bucket list! But what on earth has this got to do with hiking?
Well, my bucket list is peppered with lot’s of wilderness adventures and hikes from all over the globe. From climbing Mount Whitney in North America, to visiting Machu Picchu in Peru via the Inca Trail. From taking in some of the Great Wall of China, to sipping camp coffee after a nights camping in Patagonia. In fact, if you love getting out on the trail, I highly recommend creating a hiking specific bucket list.
Imagine you can go hiking anywhere in the world! Where would you go first? What are the places that get you excited? Do you want to take a few months out and hike the PCT on your own? When you start to think of all the places you want to go hiking in and the multitude of adventures you can have, it get’s very busy pretty quickly as there are just so many amazing possibilities on this beautiful planet 🙂
Conclusion
So, that’s it for today. This was just a bit of fun that popped into my head as we approach the end of the year, however you can do it any time.
As I mention above, if you haven’t done this exercise, I highly recommend you do it for every aspect of your life. If you’re reading this though, you’re probably a hiker of some kind so I highly recommend making a hiking bucket list to intersperse with you’re overall one.
This exercise is actually a lot of fun. Try and relax and let the left brain take a break. Think about what you’d love to do, experience or see before you die and let it flow baby 🙂 When you start thinking about hiking adventures, I promise you, once you get started, you will find it hard to stop!
If you’re stuck for some ideas for your hiking bucket list, check out 40 of the best hikes and trails on the planet, plenty of food for thought there to get you started 😉