More Than A Bucket List: Book Review

     So to continue with the theme of setting goals for the coming year, I thought I would share with you a book that I recently had the opportunity to check out.  It's called More Than A Bucket List by Toni Birdsong.  It is a book all about dreams and goals and making time to make them a reality.  Here is the cover description:

Fun ideas of things to do, places to see, and ways to make a difference!

Everyone dreams about places to see, people to meet, and things to do in their lifetime. But too often we lose sight of those dreams and get buried in everyday busyness and demands. More Than a Bucket List will inspire you to seize and act on a range of dreams—anything from visiting the Holy Land, donating your time at a soup kitchen, learning to climb a tree, or helping a child learn to read. The book also includes ideas to make lasting memories as you marvel at a new sight, laugh like crazy with an old friend, or change a life.

The compilation of bucket list items is divided thematically and blended with Scripture and personal stories. Pages at the back allow you to write your own bucket list items. Are you ready to finish this life well and start checking off items from your bucket list?

      From reading the description of the book I figured that it would make a good present for my kids, kind of like a list of ideas to do together.  After getting the book, I wouldn't say that were necessarily true.  It really is geared more toward adults, unless of course you like your kids pestering you to take a trip to Santa Claus, Arizona or to take them to India so they can try some Monkey Toes.  I certainly don't.
     At first glance, I noticed  lot of ideas that definitely didn't fit my budget and never would.  I honestly had a hard time picking the book back up to take a deeper look because I was fairly disappointed.  But when I did pick it back up, I was glad I did.  I must have happened to land on all the Adventure pages on my first look-through because after looking at it more closely I saw that most of the ideas inside were free.  They were ideas on how to take advantage of every day situations and moments and turn them into something you could remember and be proud to look back on.  Some examples of this are:
     Bury a time capsule.
     Fix what breaks rather than buy a new one.
     Register to be a bone marrow donor.
     Make a pie from scratch.
     Simplify.  Give away all that stuff.
     But then there are also many ideas on things that you could do for that yearly or once in a lifetime trip, such as:
     Take a camel trek in Morocco
     Raft the Grand Canyon
     (Watch other people) run with the bulls in Pamplona.
     Drive a Nascar track.
     Stay in an ice hotel.
     Climb the steps of the Mayan ruins.
     Throughout the book are plenty of bible verses for inspiration, stories for encouragement, and miscellaneous study findings or tidbits to make you stop and think.  For instance, did you know that numerous studies have shown the benefits of gratitude?  'Some even revealed that people who kept weekly gratitude journals had less aggression, reported fewer physical ailments, and were more optimistic about life compared to people who recorded neutral events and daily hassles.'  That makes ME stop and think.
     Although a lot of pages in this book are nothing more than just pages to make me envy those who can afford the adventures listed on them, I am actually very glad to have this book.  I will take what I can from it and do what I can to make this next year one of seizing opportunities and getting my life on track.

Except for the product(s) given to me for the purpose of reviewing, I received no compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% my own.