“Humankind only has 8 months and 12 days left on Earth…” The first time I heard these ominous words, they didn’t strike me the same way they do now. That’s probably because this is a quote from the fictional Xavier Holiday, a character from the CW’s not-so-hit show No Tomorrow. The premise of the show was that the protagonist, Evie Covington, the awkward, but in a fun way, risk adverse quality control manager of a Seattle based eCommerce delivery warehouse (not Amazon…) gets a package delivered to her house by mistake. Turns out, the package belongs to the devilishly charming and thrill-seeking Xavier Holiday, who Evie met briefly in a farmer’s market and was immediately smitten. Evie, believing this is fate in action, brings the package to this dream guy and, while getting to know him better, finds out that he believes Asteroid 2000 WX354 is on a collision course with Earth and that “the Apocalypse is, umm…, you know, nigh…” Obviously, there is a lot more to the show about whether Xavier’s asteroid will actually hit the Earth, relationships between characters, love triangles, etcetera, but the part that most stands out to me is Xavier’s “Apocalyst.” The “Apocalyst” is a list of everything Xavier wants to do before the world goes kaput. “Every fantasy [he’s] ever had. Every regret [he] wants to fix. Every wrong [he] wants to right.”

As you may be able to guess, the show was a little hokey (probably why it only lasted one season) but the idea of a list stuck with me. Why hadn’t I thought about everything I wanted to do? Everything I wanted to experience? How I want my life to be? So, I started my own list. A little different than Xavier’s list, I didn’t want my list to be about the end or focused on the idea of “getting it in” before I die, like a bucket list, so I decided to call it my “Live it Awesome” List. A list about trying to live for the moment and experience everything I can. I started adding things from places I wanted to travel to skills I wanted to learn to food I wanted to try and just anything I could think of. I kept adding things over the next couple of months, but I didn’t check any of them off. At the time, I was dating an incredible woman, who we’ll call Delilah, who was an absolute free-spirited adventurer. Of course, I wanted to check things off the list with Delilah, but because we were long distance and both our jobs required travel, we were more often not in the same place than we were together. So, I waited to check things off. It was months that I waited to do things, and before I knew it, after two long work trips where I was in Rhode Island and Delilah in the Bahamas, we broke up.

At the time, I was heartbroken. Both for losing Delilah but also, because I realized I had been waiting to live the list and my life the way I wanted until the time was right and Delilah and I could do things together. In all the time from when I started the list to the breakup, I only did one thing off my list. Xavier Holiday did one thing off his “Apocalyst” every single day! It was in this moment, I realized how much I had been putting my life on hold and I wouldn’t stand for it anymore. The day after Delilah broke up with me, I booked a tandem skydiving jump for the next Friday and made a commitment to try and do one thing off the list at least every month (or 12 things a year, since my work sometimes restricts by ability to adventure). I wouldn’t put my life on hold ever again. Since the breakup in mid 2017, I’ve done 56 things off the list, continuing to add to it as I learn and grow, and I continue to check off thing one a month at least. From freediving with sharks to solo bikepacking across Ireland, I’ve met tons of new people and had unbelievably incredible experience along the way. “Live it Awesome” is no longer just a list for me but a mantra I use to live my life by, reminding me to make every moment count.

I’m writing this blog so that I can share my thoughts and ideas with anyone who wants to read it and hoping maybe it inspires someone to take charge of their own life and stop waiting from the time to be right. Seize the moment! This blog is about everything from travel and adventure to personal finance and how to take charge of every aspect of your life to feel independent and free to live however you choose. Here, you can read my personal philosophies on life alongside tips and tricks to become more financially independent, travel and explore on a budget, and how and why to put life first and stop waiting. I will also include the list in it’s entirety and some of the adventures I’ve been on with recommendations of how you can try the same. The timing will never be perfect, so the time to live life is now! What are you waiting for?? It’s time to Live It AWESOME!!!