Stop Dreaming About Your Bucket List and Start Living It

Life can change in an instant. Have you noticed that when it does, our perspective tends to change also? I am sure if I asked you what is one item you have on your “bucket list” that you want to do before you die, what would it be?  Now maybe you’ve never actually written your bucket list down, but I have a real, honest-to-goodness “bucket list.”

I have a real, honest-to-goodness “bucket list.” The dreams and goals scribed there include adventures, travel, and other aspirations which I either never made time for or didn’t pursue because they seemed unrealistic. While some items on my list are newer ideas that have developed since I became a husband and father — things we’d like to do together and places we’d like to visit — there’s one dream listed that has been in my heart since I was a kid. It took a cancer diagnosis to stop me in my tracks and realize that it was time to stop dreaming and go for it. 

I think we often approach life with the idea that if something life-altering ever happens to us, and we’re set with a date our life might expire, then we’ll pursue our hopes and dreams. A diagnosis will prompt us to grab a pen and write a list of goals and experiences that, until now, didn’t seem like a reasonable priority. Suddenly, consequences, available time, and resources aren’t the first thought; truly living is.

Temporarily Off-course

As a young kid, “truly living” was wrapped up in a dream to conquer the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb one day. Having watched it on television at the age of eight, I was instantly mesmerized by this harrowing 12.42-mile course with its 156 turns, beginning at over 9,300 feet and ending at 14,115 feet above sea level. The Pikes Peak race embodied the adventure, competitiveness, and intrigue of danger that tends to be within boys. For me, it also represented a glimmer of hope.

I grew up in a household that experienced some hardship, and hope was hard to find at times. Lacking a real sense of purpose, as I graduated from high school and considered my future, I held tightly to my childhood dream of racing Pikes Peak. Reluctantly, I made a deal with my father that I would first go to college, where I pursued a career in engineering and ultimately started what would become one of the largest robotic integrators in the country. The dream of Pikes Peak gave way to family, career, ministry, and ultimately the woes of life. In late 2018, everything changed when I was diagnosed with colon cancer and told I might have less than two years to live. With my health deteriorating, I was forced to sell my business and evaluate the future.

Chasing Purpose

We can’t always control our life’s path, but we can choose how we’ll respond to it. Enter my bucket list. The life-altering illness served to press the pause button on life as I knew it and focus on what was important. Maybe that sounds cliché, but this pivotal moment helped me discover a real sense of purpose. My goal was to live life to the fullest, pursue my dreams, and share my faith with as many people as possible. With the support of my wife and faith community, I began training for the Pikes Peak climb. My race to the finish line was a multi-year journey – and not an easy one. While I’m proud to have fulfilled my goal, the overarching, most important result of this journey is the people I’ve met who say that pursuing a dream despite my cancer offers them hope.

We’re all chasing hope and purpose. For me, it took an abrupt stop – a crash in the middle of my life – to help me find mine. Shifting gears from career goals to a bucket list ultimately led me to discover that chasing my childhood dream was really about chasing my God-given purpose and inspiring others.

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Don Wickstrum is an entrepreneur, pastor and racer. Known as the “Fastest Pastor.” Wickstrum serves as a leader in ministry, a counselor, mentor, a husband, and father. He currently races and shares the Gospel amid his ongoing battle with cancer in hopes of inspiring and ministering to others. To watch “Chasing Hope,” the short documentary-style film about Wickstrum’s story visit: https://www.iamsecond.com/film/chasing-hope/.

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