Owning my Bucket-List Mentality

I made my first bucket list when I was 14. I had just gotten my first iPad and I remember sitting in my Paris - themed bedroom scrolling through an article listing the “Top Places to Travel in 2016”, and from there I compiled a list of about 25 destinations that I promised myself I would get to by the time I turned 25. 

Growing up with such big dreams I had many people tell me that it was “impractical” or “unattainable”. I was constantly told that I need to “be more realistic” which had me questioning everything. I did my first semester studying at The American College of Greece, where I told myself that this was the perfect balance between traveling and focusing on my academics and a future career in marketing. Instead, I came out of this semester more excited and more driven to find a way to make a living out of exploration and travel.

As I grew up and I started to capitalize on different opportunities like studying abroad, interning abroad, and different study tours I was able to start crossing these items off my list one by one. What seemed like a far fetched fantasy became much more tangible, and the idea of finishing the list by 25 seemed more and more realistic. It wasn’t long before I found myself sitting on top of my cave hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey overlooking the hot air balloons during sunrise that I felt a sense of accomplishment and I thought Wow i’m actually doing it. Here I am now being able to say that I have traveled to 32 countries all by the time I was 21. 

Just because something is not “practical” or “realistic” for somebody else, does not mean that it isn’t for you. I wouldn’t be who I am today without following my own path and passions. Life is all based on opportunity. Without travel I wouldn’t have met the people I call my best friends, I wouldn’t have found the jobs that set me up for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t have been able to reconnect with my distant family in Ireland, and I wouldn’t be able to sit here and feel as fulfilled and proud of myself as I do now. 

I am looking forward to creating my own path and continue to cross things off of the bucket-list one at a time. The world is so big and so full of opportunities.