Insight: Are bucket lists necessary? By Lorraine Glowczak

Without a doubt, I am a 100 percent bucket list person. It’s seems I’m not alone in this goal-oriented endeavor after I posted on Facebook our weekly "On the Spot" question, asking our readers: "What is one thing on your bucket list?" We received a multitude of answers. 

According to writer, Elizabeth Scott, there are many advantages to having a bucket list.

1)      We become aware of what is important to us.

2)      It helps us keep us in touch with our goals and can help us keep track of them as we plan them into our lives and check them off upon completion.

3)      It helps us tap into the creative part of our dreams, takes us beyond our comfort zones and makes life more worthwhile.

4)      Simply creating a list can be fun and revisiting it over time, checking off our experiences can all be ways to enjoy life more.

5)      They can be inspirational. While you may not complete every item on your list, you will likely complete some and get more out of your life than if you hadn’t created the list.

But does that mean everyone needs or wants to have a bucket list to live life fully? When I posted the question on social media, a friend of mine who experiences life to the fullest and accomplishes many amazing things stated to me, “I don’t have a bucket list,” saying it as if it was a bad thing. “Maybe it is because I don’t want to set myself up for disappointment at not being able to accomplish what I set out to do.”

The concept of the bucket list comes from the often quoted “kick the bucket” phrase, referring to one’s death. The list itself was made popular by the film, “The Bucket List” staring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. The characters in the film meet in a hospital and both are dying of cancer. Together, they decide to do things they always wanted to do before they “kicked the bucket.” This movie and its concept inspired us to not wait until we were in the cancer ward to live our lives fully. But some people live their lives authentically and with presence without creating a list.

Linda Blair, author of “The Key to Calm,” provides an alternative perspective. Blair states this about bucket lists: "Saving up the money, planning it with friends and then the moment as well. I'm all for that. But if you're constantly living in the future, ignoring what's going on right now because you're shooting for goals, which happen so quickly that they're over, and then you have to chase another one, you're not really living."

For every truth that exists, the exact opposite is also true. So, whether you have a bucket list or not – it is not a sign of a life well lived. A list may be good for those who wish to keep track of their accomplishments and not good for those who prefer to enjoy life’s beautiful everyday moments without a list that haunts them. It turns out that a majority of us live life fully and the way we deem best. Bucket list or not.

Okay – got to run. I’m off to check one more thing off my list.