The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Opinions

BETSY BRAFMAN ALPERT

A few years ago, a movie called "The Bucket List" starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson came out. The movie was about two dying friends who create a list of all the things they plan to do before they "kick the bucket."

Many years before "The Bucket List" was released, I created my own such list; however, I aptly named mine "50 Things To Do Before I Die."

At that time, I was 20 and studying abroad in Spain. I was keeping a journal of all my adventures, and I thought if I created a list and included activities I wanted to experience before I left Europe, it would motivate me to actually do some of these activities.

You see, I love lists. I am constantly creating to-do lists and get a huge amount of personal satisfaction each time I complete a task and cross it off my list.

Moreover, when I write something down on one of my lists, it stares at me in black and white so even if I might want to ignore it, I can't.

My list of "50 Things To Do Before I Die" consisted of several adventures - skydiving, SCUBA diving and parasailing; personal goals - learning 25 piano songs, being a contestant on a game show and becoming a mother; and travel adventures - working in a foreign country, visiting all seven continents and seeing a World Cup soccer match in person.

Out of the 50 things on my list, I've so far completed 22. Some of my highlights have been bungee jumping in Switzerland, white water rafting in glacial waters, completing my master's degree, studying abroad on more than one occasion, attending one of my high school reunions, witnessing a U.S. Open tennis match in person and getting married.

Now the question is, would I have completed these 22 items if they hadn't been on my list? Some of them yes, some of them no.

Of course I would have gotten married and more than likely would have earned my master's degree even if they weren't on my list, but it still was fun to cross them off after completing them.

But I'm not so sure about some of the others.

For example, when I was creating my list in Spain, I knew I was going to visit Interlochen, Switzerland, where I would have the opportunity to bungee jump. Even though I'm terrified of heights, I put bungee jumping on my list so I wouldn't chicken out of this opportunity.

And this strategy worked. The day I signed up for my bungee jumping adventure, the only thing that steadied my hand when signing the many release forms was the thought of crossing this off my list. And wow, what an adrenaline rush bungee jumping was.

I'm so glad I went through and bungee jumped, said to heck with the cost of U.S. Open tennis tickets and bought them anyway, joined an intramural soccer team and moved to Mexico when I was 24 to work as an English teacher.

All of the above-mentioned were on my list of things to do, and because they were on my list, I was motivated to accomplish them.

I think there is a big difference between those who say they want to do things and those who actually go through and do them. For me, I much prefer being in the latter group, and if it takes me writing and revisiting my list of "50 Things to Do Before I Die" to actually do the things I dream about doing, then so be it.

- Betsy Brafman Alpert is a graduate student from Cincinnati studying school counseling.

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