Another blog I read recently asked readers what hobbies are on their bucket lists.  The post got me thinking about goals and priorities.  When I was in my early teens, I wrote a loooong bucket list (before bucket lists had a name) and taped it inside my bedroom closet to look at from time to time.  I don’t remember everything that was on the list, but I know it was ambitious and all over the place.  It included things like learning to ride horses, to play a musical instrument, to speak various languages, and living abroad.  It was a lined piece of notebook paper with a dream handwritten on every line.  Most of the entries were not things I’d thought about extensively, but rather things that just seemed like they’d be cool to do, or to be able to say I’d done.

My scattered interests continued throughout high school, college, and pretty much all of my twenties.  I dabbled in lots of things in my free time.  In recent years, I’ve become more focused, embracing the notion that while I can do just about anything, I can’t do everything — at least not well.  I’ve had so many pursuits that stalled and fizzled because my attention was pulled in too many directions.  Some of my former aspirations were more about creating a certain image or impressing others than they were about my own deeply held interests.  Exploring different interests and seeing what sticks is normal and healthy in youth, but at some point, I think there’s something to be said for homing in on a small handful of meaningful pursuits and giving them enough time and attention that they can actually flourish.  So at this point, the question for me is less about what is on my bucket list and more what I’ve removed from it.

In the spirit of letting go and finding contentment, here are some things that were once on my bucket list that I’m now putting behind me:

• Learning to speak fluent French, Italian, and German
• Living in another country
• Learning to play guitar, piano, violin, cello, or any other instrument
• Running anything more than a 5k (really, running in general)
• Taking swim lessons
• Golf
• Weighing 125 pounds or less
• Learning to ride horses
• Having a major art show
• Getting a master’s degree in anything
• Becoming a master potter
• Gardening and composting
• Winemaking
• Specialty cooking tasks, like regularly baking my own bread from scratch and brewing kombucha
• Fostering rescue pets
• Poetry readings and poetry critique groups
• Acting in theatre productions
• Reading classical literature and books about history just because they seemed like things I should have read

And here are the things that have made the cut.  With a young child, a full-time job, and the usual family and social commitments, it’s hard for me to find the time to do these things right now, but they are things that add value and meaning for me, and I hope to do them more in a different season of life:

• Writing for publication (beyond this blog and the legal opinions I write for work)
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Civic engagement and volunteer work
• Spiritual exploration and community (which goes with the three above and might involve some combination of them)
• Hiking
• Camping
• Reading for pleasure

Over to you: What hobbies and personal ambitions have you let go because they just weren’t priorities, or because you decided you simply couldn’t do it all?  What things remain on your bucket list?  Tell us in the comments.

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