Bucket List #18 and #35 

If you haven’t read my bucket list blog, please head here: https://authorarielpierce.com/2023/01/03/a-30-year-olds-bucket-list/ 

I considered writing an individual blog for each item but decided against it. I thoroughly thought through a well-constructed blog about how owning a robot vacuum changed my life.  

It did for about a week and then it became, like many things I own, a reminder that my mental health is questionable.  

Bucket List item number 35 is to “Own a robot vacuum.”  

I own a robot vacuum! I honestly bought it months ago, shortly after I published the original bucket list blog. However, writing became a thing I couldn’t do for pleasure for a bit. The last blog I published was my mom’s birthday blog in February. We’re creeping up on four months of zero writing… Ouch. I don’t think I realized things were that bad until writing that sentence.  

However, I sought out a psychiatrist, per my therapist’s recommendation, and things have been improving! Maybe I’ll write about that experience in a later blog post.  

Any who.  

I own a robot vacuum! I love it, and here’s the link if you want to love it too: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079QYYGF1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It does the job. However, prior to it being able to do it’s job, my floor must be free of hazards. It will bump around bigger, heavier items. It will suck up most of the smaller mess, but it will not do well with all the toys, clutter, and miscellaneous items I have all over the place. It will run, but it will suck up your socks and get stranded on a small item that’s too big to get sucked into it.  

Basically, I need to clean my apartment before I run my vacuum. So, the vacuum is great, but I haven’t had the mental gusto to be able to keep my apartment clean enough to run it on the regular. I’ve already posted a blog on how mental health connects to cleanliness, so I won’t go much further into this concept. Here is that blog if you would like to check it out: https://authorarielpierce.com/2022/09/19/to-clean-or-not-to-clean/ 

The most exciting part is that I checked off a second item on my bucket list!

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A surprising turn of events is that I checked off a fairly big item on my bucket list since my last blog post as well.  

Bucket List item number 18 is to “Go on a cruise.” 

The tickets have been purchased since February, ya know, one of those tax refund splurge purchases!  

I didn’t want to spill the beans on this one until I for sure went on the cruise. From May 22, 2023 until May 26, 2023 (technically until about 9 AM on May 27^th), I was on a cruise!  

I don’t know if it was the fresh Mexico air or five days avoiding any work obligations, but I felt motivated to write about my second and third bucket list items!  

This third item is now crossed off the list thanks to the help of my lovely friend who also led me to cross the first item off the list. She and her family were planning to go on this cruise, and she invited me to join. I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. I didn’t have any major obligations and felt a vacation would be a change of pace.  

I don’t really feel going into details of the trip are important as there was nothing monumental about this trip like the lesson I learned on the train. I had fun, got to spend time with two of my friends, kissed a hot stranger, and my brain finally felt a freedom it had been lacking for years.  

I guess I can say, take the vacation. Do something that requires no obligation to anyone but yourself. If you have children, take them with you if you want, but make sure to find moments for yourself. We all deserve breaks. We deserve moments of goofing off, of meeting new people and sharing a laugh, of leaving our work obligations behind for a bit. If you can’t do that, I don’t know what it is you do but it makes my heart hurt a bit for you.  

Here are a few photos I enjoy. I’m keeping most to myself, but the water was so peaceful and who doesn’t love a good towel art animal.  

Here’s to checking off a third bucket list item!