Find Your Own Bucket List

It’s the weekend so that means playtime. Time to sit back, relax, maybe see a movie, enjoy an adult beverage, or whatever you do with your free time. It’s this time that I find myself struggling with lately.

I have a non-traditional schedule so the weekend includes two of my workdays, however since my hours are early I am still able to catch up with friends. Thursday and Friday, my weekend, is currently spent doing a lot of research online and planning. I’d like to think I’m an ambitious gal which means I need to put in the hours to get where I ultimately want to be (where that place is exactly is a work in progress).

In our early and mid-twenties there are many things I am told you should do. You should go out, “make stupid decisions,” stay up late, ect. All of those things aren’t really my style though.

(Me at Vogue, when I shadowed a report for CBS Sunday Morning while interning)

The fall semester of my senior year in college I took an internship in New York City. It was my dream to have an internship in New York, however I had always hoped it would take place the summer before my senior year. I didn’t receive that opportunity. When the chance came along for the fall internship I remember a graduate from my university talking to me about how they would not take the internship. “You are going to miss out of so many senior activities,” he told me.

This comment sat with me as I made the decision whether or not to go to New York that fall. What I realized was those senior activities was on HIS bucket list, not mine. Of course I wanted to experience my senior year with my friends and I had to miss a part of that, but for me, it was more important that I take the opportunity in New York so I could check off the item on MY bucket list.

I do have a fear of missing out. Currently, I find myself consumed with all the tasks I want to get done. I tell myself to go out and be social, because that’s what I should do. Then, when I do take time to be social, I feel guilty that I didn’t spend that time working.

It’s important to have a balance between work and play. Finding that balance is not always easy. However, just because it’s “the thing to do,” doesn’t mean it has to be something YOU do. Don’t let someone be in charge of what is or isn’t on your bucket list. Embrace who you are and focus on checking off the items that matter to you.

#embraceyourself