How Writing a Bucket List Can Help Your Mental Health

Give your dreams back to yourself

Photo by Colin Watts on Unsplash

Swimming with whale sharks in Mexico? Or skydiving in Dubai? Sleeping in an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora? Buying a superexpensive car? Nah, I don’t really think these are for me. I am not jumping on the bucket-list bandwagon to show off on social media on white sandy beaches or adrenaline-inducing activities to fight off a mid-life crisis.

I am not going to write a list about what I want to do before I die, because I don’t plan on dying just yet and I have bigger things to worry about. Besides, it’s such a privileged first world problem to look for answers in a bucket list.

Or is it?

I can’t remember the last time I felt this devastated mentally. I know I have a great life but I don’t feel great about any of it. The social isolation, the constant uncertainty, the rage that surrounds us in the world, the new way of living, the responsibilities and expectations are wearing me down and no amount of exercise, healthy eating, therapy and therapeutic writing seem to counteract externally what I feel internally.

I would say it’s depression but I also know that I have every reason to be upset, impatient and exhausted. Physically and mentally to equal measure.