You’re ringing in the new year with your loved one deployed and (what feels like) a million miles away. Feeling down? A little blue? Maybe you’re excited for a clean slate, a new start. After all, the new year is the year your spouse or child or significant other or friend comes home. (Yay! Let’s pop some bubbly!)
So let’s start this year in style, by creating–or adding to– your bucket list. After all, the best thing about the beginning of a new year is dreaming of all the adventures you’ll have. And you can still have those adventures while your loved one is deployed.
But first, let’s talk a little bit about deployment bucket lists and why they can make deployment so, so much better.
Deployment bucket list basics
A deployment bucket list is basically a to-do list of things that you want to accomplish during your loved one’s deployment. Why? Because giving yourself manageable (and fun!) goals to accomplish during a time that can often feel like you’ve put your life on hold. You can create the list on your own, or, if you have kids, create it with them and make a family bucket list. What you put on the list is up to you, but you definitely want to create some long-term and short-term goals so you have a variety of things to work towards and check off. If you need some inspiration to get you started, I can help.
The number of bucket list goals that you put on your list doesn’t matter, although 1-2 per week of the anticipated length of the deployment is a good rule of thumb. Make sure that you choose goals that are absolutely 100% exciting to you so that you actually look forward to completing the list and actually do them.
New Year’s Eve goals
- Create one resolution you know you can stick to.
- Wear a silly hat or crown.
- Throw a New Year’s Eve get-together.
- Attend a local New Year’s Eve celebration.
- Throw a Noon Year’s Even countdown for your kids.
- Write down 10 joys of the past year.
- Write down 10 wishes for the new year.
- Call someone you love and wish them a happy new year.
- Make a toast to the new year.
- Eat pomegranate seeds for good luck.
- Listen to (or sing) Auld Lang Syne
- Take a photo and post it to Facebook so that next year you’ll get the newsfeed memory notification.
- Research a new year’s tradition from another culture and introduce your kids to it.
- Eat pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day for good luck.
Goals for the next year
- Complete a 30-day workout challenge.
- Complete a 30-day book challenge.
- Complete a 30-day professional challenge.
- Complete a 30-day hobby challenge.
- Complete a 30-day decluttering challenge.
- Complete a 30-day social media challenge.
- Complete a 30-day gratitude challenge.
- Complete a 30-day nutrition challenge.
- Complete a 30-day kindness challenge.
- Complete a 30-day gratitude challenge.
- Complete a 30-day outdoors challenge.
- Complete a 30-day meditation/prayer challenge.
- Revamp your resume.
- Choose a nonprofit to volunteer once a month at … then do it!
- Quit a bad habit for good.
- Get a wellness check-up.
- Write and send one thank-you card a day for a week.
- Find an informational podcast you enjoy and listen to it.
- Make the bed every day for a month.
- Redecorate a room.
- Reorganize a room of your choice. (Or start with a closet!)
- Begin a spiritual/religious practice of your choice.
- Make a list things you want to do with your deployed loved one when they’re home.
- Plan the next step in your career.
- Send one care package a month until deployment ends.
- Save your change for a year.
- Participate in one professional development activity a month.
- Write one letter a week until deployment ends.
- Declutter your wardrobe.
- Try a new fruit or vegetable.
- Grow a plant from a seed.
- Identify three things you don’t use anymore and sell them online or in person.
More Bucket List Help:
- Here’s Why Milspouses Need a Deployment Bucket List
- How to Write a Deployment Bucket List That Doesn’t Suck
- 128 Goals to Put on Your Deployment Bucket List
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