This has become a rather popular thing, especially when you get older. It is kind of sad, in that it is usually kind of like “I’ll be dead pretty soon (months/hears), what do I want to make sure I get done before I die”. I don’t think I have ever heard anyone actually state it that way but that is the normal mood of it all. I might be about the age many people are when they start thinking of their “bucket list” but my bucket, and the reasons there for, are a bit different.
First off I don’t plan on die any time soon. My plan is to live to 120, and even if I don’t quite make that number I don’t plan on giving up on life. And unto that, not giving up, is a bucket list that is a bit different.
Let’s start out with my biggest, from many perspectives, item on my bucket list, climbing El Capitan. For those that don’t know that is one of Yosemite valleys biggest climbs. It is about three thousand feet of climbing. It usually takes 5 to 10 days to get to the top. For more about it and why I have chose to make it a goal read this.
Many people have climbed El Cap, but most do it when they are much younger. And it will take me at least another eight years to be ready. By the time I start up that wall I will likely be in my 70’s.
Most people would consider me in good physical shape, if not very good. Yet I will have to get in much better shape to make this goal. Beyond the amazment of doing such an incredible climb is the challenge to get my body in better and better shape. For me that aspect is so compelling.
Most people at this point in their life feel like they have put in their dues and have earned the opportunity to relax. Nothing wrong with that. If that is how you want to spend your later years great!. I hope you can find lots of fulfilling things to relaxingly spend you time on. But that is not me.
I don’t know why but I have been blessed with incredible energy and stamina. I can do things people half my age can’t do, and do so regularly. For whatever reason I want to see how far this blessing will go. And so I have chosen a mountain that very few manage to surmount to see how far I can go.
I’m sure there are those of you who would say that I am crazy or taking unnecessary chance. Crazy is anyone who is willing to go further than you are, so, so much for crazy. Am I taking chances, yes and no. For sure it add risks that you would not get sitting at home watching Netflix, but whether or not it is “unnecessary” is the question. If your life if fulfilled by safer pursuits then it would be an unnecessary risk for you. For me I need to climb and I need to see how far this body of mine can take me.
I realize there is some possibility that I will die in this attempt. I will do everything I can to avoid that, I have a lot more on my bucket list that we haven’t gotten to. But if I die doing something so amazing so beyond, just beyond. Then I will have died living life to the fullest. I think is is far more important how we live then when we die.
So much more to share, but I am out of write time for now, so this is TBC.
