Bucket List

"Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon." Unknown

I lie wide awake in my bed doing nothing again after doing nothing the whole day. I have a medical exam to prepare for and my IELTS exam is also upcoming real soon. I have done so many things for the past few months alone but I have been awfully lazy lately. I suddenly realized, I am stuck. I then jerked myself out of my bed and got hold of the tattered notebook I had while I was attending a life coaching program before. I was then embarrassed of myself when i saw my list of life goals then. I have actually accomplished most of my goals achievable at this point in time. A knowing feeling punched me right into my guts. I actually aimed much lower than I should have. I was capable of so many things but I was not willing to admit to myself that I was. I am rather disappointed of myself.

" Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude." Zig Ziglar

So I reckoned, I will make a new list. I initially wanted to call it my "WISH or DREAM LIST" but i don't want them to stay just wishes or dreams. Then I remembered the word "Bucket List", straight from the movie of the same name. Then I wondered, why such a list of activities to do before you die is named as such. After research (yes I did research), i learned that it was adapted from the old phrase "kicking the bucket" which means "dying or passing away". Although I have reservations with the words "death or passing away", i think it would be nice to accomplish things before I ultimately lose all opportunity.

I included all that I've ever listed in my previous "wish list" since I was a child and added the ones from my latest list since the program. I've updated them and checked out the ones I've accomplished so far. I also deleted some goals that I'm not too proud of (hehehe). I will continuously update this as I come to encounter more outrageous goals to make my life more exciting (^_^). I hope to accomplish everything and I'm gonna do it!

☑ Become a licensed medical doctor

☐ Enter a residency program in a good medical institution

☐ Pass all accreditation exams in that certain residency program

☐ Be affiliated in a respectable medical institution and have a good medical practice WITH GOOD PAY ^_^

☑ Learn how to drive (stickshift)

☑ Learn how to sing and perform on stage

☑ Do ziplining

☑ Do a recording of me singing
☑ Have my own Blog (duh!)

☑ Learn how to bake

☑ Have 1000+ friends in Facebook (found out this was too easy eventually ^_^)

☑ Be involved in charity

☐ Have a full makeover

☑ Be involved in a fun run

☐ Climb Mount Apo (gulp) and have my picture taken there

☑ Learn how to drink alcohol judiciously

☐ Have a portrait of me done and displayed

☐ Learn how to paint properly and have one of my art displayed on my home and sell some

☐ Learn how to dance and perform

☐ Learn how to do yoga and acquire it as a lifestyle

☐ Learn how to cook, preferably enroll in a culinary school

☐ Learn and do scuba diving

☐ Learn and do para sailing

☐ Learn and do skim boarding

☐ Learn and do surfing

☐ Do bunjee jumping

☐ Ride a helicopter

☐ Skydiving!

☐ Ride and drive a race car

☐ Have a photoshoot in a professional studio with my close friends

☐ Learn photography and have my own portfolio
☐ Travel around the Philippines (Top 10)
                 ☑ Camiguin                                ☐ Coron, Palawan
                 ☑ Puerto Princesa, Palawan      ☑ Boracay
                 ☑ Ilocos                                      ☐ Cebu

                 ☑ Baguio                                    ☐ Siargao

                 ☑ Bohol                                      ☐ Davao

☐ Travel around the world (Top 10)
                 ☐ France                                     ☐ Brazil

                 ☐ Rome                                      ☐ Australia

                 ☐ Japan                                      ☐ Germany

                 ☐ Italy                                        ☐ Greece

                 ☑Singapore                                ☐ England

☐ See all the 7 New Wonders of the World

                 ☐ Chichen Itza - Yucatan, Mexico

                 ☐ Christ the Redeemer - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

                 ☐ Colosseum - Rome, Italy

                 ☐ Great Wall of China - People's Republic of China

                 ☐ Machu Picchu - Cuzco Region, Peru

                 ☐ Petra - Ma'an Governorate, Jordan

                 ☐ Taj Mahal - Agra, India

☐ See the Great Pyramid Complex at Giza, Egypt

☐ Go to Disneyland

☑ Go to Universal Studios

☐ Be a delegate at a World Youth Day Pilgrimage

☐ See the Pope

☑ Own a car (hopefully, the last one would be a luxury car)

☐ Own a big house

☐ Own a business, preferably pastry shop, book shop or a coffee shop

☐ Migrate to Canada (gulp)

☐ Acquire Canadian Citizenship (bigger gulp)

☐ Acquire a Canadian Passport (biggest gulp)

☐ Fall in love with the right person, my soulmate

☐ Get married at the Transfiguration Chapel, Caleruega, Batangas

☐ Have children someday

☐ Breed dogs and earn from it

☐ Write a novel or a book and have it published

☐ Be a professor of Psychology or, even better, any subject in the field of medicine

☐ Be involved in research

☐ Become a forum or a conference speaker

☑ Insure myself

☑ Make someone feel special and loved and keep that person in my heart forever

☐ Change the life of a person unrelated to me forever

"By recording your dreams and goals on paper, you set in motion the process of becoming the person you most want to be." Mark Victore Hansen

Rest assured that I have also written this down in paper for future reference. ^_^

My Crossroad

I stand alone at the edge of a crossroad. The first path was undoubtedly shorter, straighter and brightly lit but the destination was of great uncertainty. In contrast, the other path appears indeterminable, ruthlessly crooked and poorly lit but there is a promise of great surprise and blessing. It is the inevitable crossroad of my life. I had passed this crossroad before and knew it--I had chosen poorly.

We are but creatures in a continuing cycle of learning and turning points. Struggles are encountered. Mistakes are made. Learning is ensured with a fleeting promise of never repeating the error. Only a handful are lucky to possess the elusive answers to all consuming questions that lead others to their ruin. A greater number of us are smart enough to learn from the mistakes of others. Yet, surprisingly, the answer was simple. That in all afflictions in the road of life to divine happiness, the answer is the one we dread the most--that is to expect pain and hardship along the way. Growth then occurs when we choose to surrender. The struggle begins when we choose the brightly lit road to short-lived happiness. Most of those who have "learned" forgets. The emerging culture is sadly embodying a tendency to avoid pain and hardship.

Being a child of the recent generation, I have forgotten and was jolted by a distant memory. A familiar inkling that I have faced this before. I'm yet again at the edge of this familiar crossroad. The urge to whine and blame was overwhelming. I knew the answer but I disappointingly chose to hesitate and pretend. Every moment of dallying and delay is one step toward stagnation and my ultimate ruin.

Looking at the horizon of my past and what lies ahead, I know in my heart that I will choose differently now. The right choice was glaring in front of me and I choose to surrender. I choose to be happy and have a life of blessing, maybe not now but definitely for a bright future years ahead. I purposefully took my first step onto that dreadful crooked road. I surrender, push on and leap forward. True happiness is awaiting my arrival.