If you had any choice, any chance, what is one thing you would do before you die? Scale the side of a mountain, jump from 15,000 feet up, or meet your celebrity role-model? We have choices, but for some unspoken reason, we don't make them. We don't make the decision to go out and dare to take risks, conquer goals, and kick dreams in the butt. For these four guys in Vancouver, it was time to change all of that.
Remember The Buried Life? The 2010 MTV hit that took simple dreams and turned them into realities for anyone who dared to take the chance. Duncan Penn, Jonnie Penn, Ben Nemtin, and Dave Lingwood began their journey to smash bucket lists across North America. The big purple bus "Penelope" took to the streets of Boston to California in hopes to inspire people while being inspired to complete "100 things to do before you die."
The Buried Life project was inspired by a poem by Matthew Arnold, itself called "The Buried Life."
"But often, in the world's most crowded streets, But often, in the din of strife, There rises an unspeakable desire After the knowledge of our buried life;" -1852
Arnold's poem speaks of frustration and sadness with the fear that he will never achieve what he hopes to in life. To these guys, it was a wake up call. It was an inspiration to take a chance; to rid themselves of regret and grow as people. To the rest of us, it was a chance to sit there, take to their YouTube channel and see how many items they could cross off, which kick-butt adventures they could take on, and try to help others out along the way. That leaves the question ...
Where does that put you? If anyone has ever seen the show, they'll know that conquering your buried life takes a large amount of willpower and adventure. There's no turning back. It's dive, head first, into your dreams and willingly turning them into realities. Get ready to fall, but be even more ready to get yourself back up and conquer those dreams yet again. It's one thing to write down a bucket list, it's another to take your pencil and cross off each item, one by one. It's about finding the will, the wit, the motivation to finally put your dreams into play. The importance of your own buried life project is to one day look back and not regret that you didn't take the risks, jump off of waterfalls, and didn't allow yourself to fly.
Get inspired at www.theburiedlife.com.
