Fill Your Bucket

birthday musings + a writing prompt for you

Welcome to Writing in Company. Each week I share some words and a writing prompt, meant to be jumping-off points for you to write about what matters. Use the prompts however you like—to journal, to draft thoughts for your own writing project, as meditation or prayer ideas, or for another creative endeavor. You can always look back through the archive for more ideas. Grab your pen and paper, and let your words loose on the page.

It’s my birthday week! I’m celebrating another spin around the sun. Ever since Covidtime, I’ve had to think hard about how old I am. It’s like the mental calendar/clock stopped running, and who knows what year it is, much less what age we all are. I did the math for you, though: It’s 2024 and I am turning 58.

I’ve never understood people who don’t want to share their age because they want everyone to think they are younger than they are. I mean—I think I’m looking/doing okay for 58. Why would I want you to think I am 40? If this was 40, I’d be worried. In fact, year 40 is when I started proactively saying “every year’s a good one” at my birthday and everyone else’s. That was the year cancer showed up —with my first mammogram!¹ I am grateful to still be celebrating 18 years later.

I know I’m aging. I can see it and feel it. I also know that aging is a privilege.

At the same time, I am still learning and trying new things: Substack. A book proposal. Rosemary spiced nuts. A full cobra pose in yoga. There are even more things I still want to do. I could write a bucket list, then get busy doing them. That sounds like a writing prompt I would give you: “Make a list—a bucket list—things you want to do before you kick the bucket. Then pick one and write more about it…etc.etc.”

But here’s where I am instead. Call it the wisdom of my 58 years. I don’t want to make a bucket list of things I should get busy doing before it’s too late. Instead, I want to make a fill my bucket list—a list of things that are possible right now, that help me breathe deeper and smile more. A bucket list sounds stressful and like I’m already behind. Who needs that? A fill my bucket list sounds like a warm blanket by the fire with a cup of chai tea and a new book from the library. Or a trip in the sunshine in my tiny camper. Or a long walk on a new trail. Or a piece of peanut butter pie. Or any of that with people I love.

a writing prompt

Make a Fill Your Bucket List.

Not what you must do before you die. But what fills you and feeds you right now. What is already possible. What helps you breathe deeper or smile more.

Then go do one of those things. You deserve it, even if it’s not your birthday.

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1. Early detection can save lives. Get your screenings, friends.