So I googled around some blogs and read some pretty amazing reverse bucket lists. All you have to do is make a list of things you've already acomplished and are proud of. The idea is that we spend too much time looking at things we haven't done yet, and not enough time celebrating the milestones we've already achieved.
So here's my reverse bucket list.
1. Potty train (good thing I checked that one off early in life!)
2. Win best oral in my school in Grade 3, leading to me reciting it before the mayor of the city! (pretty impressive for a kid who broke out into tears during her oral 2 years prior!)
3. Win Female athletic award at Grade 8 Graduation, awesome Grade 7 teacher feels the need to point out that I'm also one smart cookie who placed 3rd in a city wide math test, and that if our school had had math and science awards I would have got them too! Thank you Mr. Huckson!
4. Boldly go were non of my besties have gone before, and played highschool basketball, captained the team and won NOSSA championship in Grade 10. Thank you North Bay Dairy Queen for the ice cream cake with a picture of a rocket on it, reading NASA Champs!
5. Defy mother, dye hair blondish before Christmas. This would be the first in a long line of unfavourable (to her) hair dying projects. Years later I'd dip dye teal and never hear the end of it. (love you mom!!)
7. Travelled to Europe for the first time at the tender age of 16 with high school art class. Got first kind of Boy Friend on trip.... dumped him shortly thereafter. Fell in love with travelling instead. Have crossed the 'pond' 3 more times since then.
6. Travel across Canada on 24 hours notice with a group of kids I'd never met before because a seat on a YMCA trip to PEI opened up....incidentally, died hair red in a dorm bathroom on that trip.
7. High school graduation, award for Women in Science, date to prom, host after prom party in my back yard. Best friend pukes on side of garage. Other best friend pukes of deck. Overall, a success.
8. Move across Ontario all by my self to go to McMaster University. Set record for most stuff packed into a dorm room. Survive first year classes of 500+ students, write and present award winning biology project on Hamilton public transit system.
9. Despite going to Uni not knowing a soul, over next four years make some of the most amazing friends a girl could ask for. Have uncountable adventures, make memories to cherish for a lifetime.
10. Work for Sea Lamprey Control, learn to operate a hydrolic arm, launch a boat, reverse a trailer, electrofish, wade in rapids, which a truck out of a collapsed ditch and survive a high speed rollover off the highway. Unconventional life skills. Develop strong sense of bravery and self reliance.
11. Accepted into BioPharm program, as 1 or 20 successful candidates. Embark on a path that will eventually lead to my current position. Work co-op placement at Environment Canada, spend first summer away from home. Parents buy me pretty blue Honda.
12. Interview for year long co-op position at University of Calgary. Move half away across the country in January. Have an amazing year falling in love with science. Commit to PhD.
13. Defend a 4.0 thesis project, present at a national science meeting, graduate with Honours and on the Deans list, celebrate by going back to Europe with one best friend to visit another. Enjoy last summer before adulthood, spending as much time with family as possible.
14. Move back to Calgary, into first all mine apartment, get first scratch on car, first dental bill I have to pay myself, freezer breaks and kills hours worth of amazing Italian cooking. Learn to cope with audulthood, succeed mostly.
15. Enjoy some of the most incredible experiences of my life, celebrate my 20s with publications, travel for work and for play, running, hiking, knitting, blogging....... give and receive more love than ever.
So that may have strayed away from a conventional reverse bucket list, and more into a reminiss over the last 25 years. Obviously there are too many things to include, but the moral of the story is when I stop to think about it, I have had an amazing, big, exciting life so far. Have there been hitches along the way, of course, am I accomplishing every little goal I set out to, maybe not, but I am having an amazing time along the way.
Thanks for letting me share it all with you all! And Happy Thanksgiving to all my American Readers!
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This has been a Blogember post, you can join in over at A Happy Girl.
Sounds like some pretty amazing things you have accomplished. Congratulations.
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