Bucket List Challenge + My Reverse Bucket List

photo taken on the Canopy Walk at Kakum Park in Ghana

I’ve seen this challenge floating around lately, and thought I’d share my own version. This is in two parts: a bucket list, and a reverse bucket list, which is really a list of cool accomplishments that are bucket-list-worthy, in my opinion.

I started the reverse bucket list in 2016, while I was studying abroad, as a way to remind myself that some of my accomplishments are pretty awesome. It was partially about dealing with my persistent low self-esteem/impostor syndrome, and partly an exercise in gratitude: I have had so many amazing opportunities and gotten the chance to make some of my dreams come true, through luck, determination, and the support of my wonderful community.

I’ve had depression in the past and I struggle a lot with low self-esteem, and I find that it can be hard to remember that I have done some really amazing things in my life. The reverse bucket list is a great way to keep track of this stuff, and I keep a copy in my bullet journal that I can look at when I’m feeling down in the dumps.

selfie taken on the Canopy Walk at Kakum Park in Ghana

Reverse Bucket List

• studied in Ghana for 4 months
• walked in the treetops at Kakum National Park in Ghana
• visited the Cape Coast Slave Castle in Ghana and walked through the Door of No Return (totally on my bucket list before)
• completed NaNoWriMo (3 times so far)
• started a micro-press
• got my poetry published in journals and anthologies
• got personal essays and journalistic articles published in newspapers and magazines
• had an article featured on the front page of a local newspaper
• served as an editor for an online magazine
• self-published a book of poetry and a poetry album
• read my poetry in front of an audience (a whole bunch of times, actually)

photo of me reading my poetry at Ghost Town Open Mic, taken by my friend Christopher Luna

• gotten tattoos (4 so far)
• gotten piercings (4 so far)
• traveled to the state capitol to lobby legislators on issues important to me
• worked for my city government
• worked for my university’s student government in undergrad
• served on a queer non-profit’s advisory board
• been interviewed on the radio
• hosted a radio show
• became a McNair Scholar
• presented my original research at a symposium
• completed my bachelor’s degree
• got into grad school to study for my PhD

photo of me presenting my research at the Portland State University Undergraduate Research Symposium

Bucket List

1 Publish a second book of poetry
2 become conversational in Spanish
3 gain reading knowledge of French and Hebrew
4 become a Fulbright Scholar
5 attend VONA
6 design (and illustrate) the trump cards for a tarot deck
7 publish a coloring book
8 travel to Canada
9 visit all 50 states in the USA
10 learn latin
11 read Les Miserables (you may laugh, but I’m like 20% of the way through this behemoth, and have been for the past 9 years, so…)
12 participate in a paintball game
13 save $500
14 read the entirety of the Talmud
15 sew a full Regency wardrobe, including 2 ballgowns, a pelisse, a spencer, 3 day gowns, a petticoat, a corset, and 3 chemises

photo of me wearing my reproduction Regency undergarments (a chemise and corset)—very risqué!

16 buy a house for my mother to retire in
17 pay off all debt
19 hold a snake
20 read 100 books in a single year
21 hug a redwood tree
22 learn to spin my own yarn
23 knit a coat
24 learn old-fashioned penmanship (what would have been used during the Regency period)
25 learn calligraphy
26 learn embroidery
27 learn to sight-read music
28 see a ballet performance
29 learn to play the guitar
30 travel to Cuba
31 travel to Palestine
32 do genealogical research on my family in the US South, especially North/South Carolina and Georgia

photo of my grandmother and my uncle, from a recently rediscovered collection of family pictures (photographer unkown, possibly my grandfather)

Tags: I don’t like tagging people, because I feel weirdly obligated when I’m tagged, and I don’t like the idea of making other people feel like that. That is maybe part of the point, and I’m still not going to do it. But if you’re reading this and you’re inspired, I definitely invite you to join the challenge!

Thanks for reading!

Pictures by me unless otherwise noted.

Divider created by javehimself, and used with gratitude.

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