All jokes aside, this post isn't going to be all about doom and gloom, but lately I've been thinking about how all of these things currently going on are going to affect me in pursuing my bucket list - and of course what I can make a conscious effort to do to help this beautiful planet survive so that my grandchildren can see it in its well-deserving glory.
So, the bucket list, you ask?
Well, take a seat, you might be here a while.
(Without sounding too much like a law student: please note that this list is in fact non-exhaustive, and there is a 100% chance that I will be adding to it.)
Bucket list:
To experience the crazy chaos of India, and to see the Taj Mahal at dawn
To visit and hopefully work at the Sepilok Orang-utan centre, Borneo
To visit Auschwitz and appreciate how lucky I am but also to remind me just how inhumane us humans can be
Visit a Buddhist retreat and learn about Buddhism
To fly over the Great Barrier Reef and snorkel a part of it, to experience the vivid incredible beauty before climate change bleaches it and kills it off any further
To live in Australia and visit New Zealand and Fiji
To explore and surf my way through Indonesia - Papua New Guinea
To see my favourite animals in their natural habitat across the globe- wolves, dolphins, giant pandas, polar bear and the tiger
Island hop around Greece, visiting the sites from Greek Mythology
Volunteer to help refugees, and volunteer to teach children
To light and float a remembrance lantern for my Nanny, at Ala Moana Beach, O'ahu, Hawaii
To explore the ancient temples of Angkor Wat
To trek Machu Picchu
To remind my parents every day how much I love them
To complete (several) ski seasons
Drive to Croatia in a campervan, down France, across northern Italy and through Slovenia
Learn French & Italian
Publish a novel (hopefully several)
Visit Morocco and take inspiration for my own place - experience the spices and colours of the souks
See Petra in Jordan by candlelight
Complete a road trip both across America by Harley Davidson and down the West Coast, ending in Mexico
Go interrailing through Europe
Live in New York City & experience the lifestyle
Take a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia, Turkey
Live in a treehouse/ on the road for a while - a la Foster Huntington (if you've never heard of him, check him out, thank me later.)
To visit an observatory and marvel at the night sky
Experience the Grand Canyon
To give what I can, when I can to people less fortunate than me
To meet new people at every turn, and keep in touch with them
Spend a couple of years chasing the seasons - skiing in the winter, bar jobs in the summer
Maybe, maybe one day settle down in one place to start a family (maybe)
NEVER EVER EVER settle for normal - don't commit myself to a job that makes me unhappy
But most importantly of all, to do all of this with the person and people that I love.
*Additions* (told you):
Watch the Northern Lights and stargaze in Iceland
visit Bodie, the Ghost town in California
Visit Joshua Tree & Yosemite national park
Sleep on a beach with the one I love
Just writing that list makes me realise how lucky I am, because I know in my heart that all of those things are possible for me to do - to some of you - you may be reading this with laughter, thinking there's no chance she will have the money or the time, but you are wrong. Our lives span over decades, there is no need for us to settle into a serious job at the age of 21 - we are capable of amazing things, this planet is an amazing place - why not have enough money to just 'get by' and go see the world? If you're lucky enough to have your health, what else is holding you back?
Very rarely, my mind slips into an abyss whereby I question what will happen when my heart no longer beats - where do all my thoughts go? My personality? The very character that writes this blog? Does it just go black? Do I know that I've died? What the hell is beyond the universe? What even is space? - but none of these questions can possibly be answered, (except for maybe the last two, I probably look super stupid to astronomers, sorry.) these questions can only be answered when my time runs out, which may be tomorrow, or it may be in 80 years time, either way, there's no point worrying. We are only tiny little blips in history, as were our ancestors, so we'd better make our short time on this planet worth it.
For me, it's all about being happy, and I refuse to be threatened by spineless terrorists, I refuse to turn a blind eye to climate change and I refuse to settle for anything short of amazing.
Just writing that list makes me realise how lucky I am, because I know in my heart that all of those things are possible for me to do - to some of you - you may be reading this with laughter, thinking there's no chance she will have the money or the time, but you are wrong. Our lives span over decades, there is no need for us to settle into a serious job at the age of 21 - we are capable of amazing things, this planet is an amazing place - why not have enough money to just 'get by' and go see the world? If you're lucky enough to have your health, what else is holding you back?
Very rarely, my mind slips into an abyss whereby I question what will happen when my heart no longer beats - where do all my thoughts go? My personality? The very character that writes this blog? Does it just go black? Do I know that I've died? What the hell is beyond the universe? What even is space? - but none of these questions can possibly be answered, (except for maybe the last two, I probably look super stupid to astronomers, sorry.) these questions can only be answered when my time runs out, which may be tomorrow, or it may be in 80 years time, either way, there's no point worrying. We are only tiny little blips in history, as were our ancestors, so we'd better make our short time on this planet worth it.
For me, it's all about being happy, and I refuse to be threatened by spineless terrorists, I refuse to turn a blind eye to climate change and I refuse to settle for anything short of amazing.
