The Bucket List

Some people love the concept of having a "bucket list", or a list of things they want to do before they die. The concept of having a full and happy life with many diverse experiences is appealing to almost everybody, but some people are more likely to write down these ideas than others. For me, the idea of a"Bucket List" is daunting. Having long term goals like "travel the world" or "have a family", that are vague and difficult to plan very far and advance is a little bit scary to me. I worry that writing them down and then not accomplishing them would be a failure, so I choose not to write them down. Many professionals, though, stress the importance of bucket lists as a way to find meaning and excitement in life, as in this USA Today article:

"These lists tend to feature all the highlights on the aspirational horizon — acts of fancy, courage and delight, full of punch and flavor, adrenalin and imagination. "It's not enough to react to life on a day-by-day basis. People need a road map. Life lists are one of the best ways to plumb the depths of the human psyche," says Caroline Adams Miller, a Bethesda, Md.-based author, motivational speaker and life coach who encourages clients to create a 100-item roster."

So, who do you think is the most likely to create a Bucket list? We have been talking a lot in class about characteristics of social classes, as well as what kind of lists people in our class prefer to create. Is it more likely that the upper classes create bucket lists to add excitement to their stereotypically quiet and refined lives, or do lower classes create bucket lists in order to have higher goals or aspirations and keep them motivated to work hard and succeed? Why do you think some people in our class (me included) are turned off by the idea of a bucket list?