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The Adventure Gene

The Adventure Gene

GENERAL, INFORMATION
Have you heard of DRD4-7R? Probably not. It is better known as the adventure gene or the wanderlust gene. DRD4 is a receptor that controls the dopamine levels in our brain. Dopamine is a chemical that is released when we experience something that we enjoy, which is what gives us the feeling of reward or pleasure. For some people, dopamine can be released from something as easy as enjoying their favourite food or just enjoying a sunny day. However, some people have lower sensitivities to dopamine, which means it takes more for them to feel reward or pleasure. Extreme sports athletes come to mind when I think of lower sensitivity to dopamine levels. These are the athletes who are chasing 100-foot waves, skiing down near-vertical rock faces and flying their…
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[#35 Lesson] Sometimes Great Ideas Shouldn’t be Repeated

[#35 Lesson] Sometimes Great Ideas Shouldn’t be Repeated

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog post #35 Eat a Tequila Worm. This was not the first time I learned this lesson and it will not be the last time. My friends and I are always coming up with ideas or adventures for the activities that we like to do. This means we are always testing out new adventures and not all of them are a raging success. We describe the activities by either Type 1 Fun or Type 2 Fun. Type 1 Fun relates to an activity that is fun while you are doing it, still feels fun in your mind when you look back on it and is likely to be repeated because it was so fun. Type 2 Fun relates to an activity that is…
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#35 Eat a Tequila Worm

#35 Eat a Tequila Worm

BUCKET LIST
This bucket list item was completed on 6th December 2013 in New Plymouth, New Zealand. After finishing a few months of travel throughout New Zealand, I was running out of money and it was time to find a job. Kyle and I headed back up to New Plymouth to try to find engineering work. I was not focused on any specific industry. Instead I just knocked on the door of any place that said they hired engineers. In 2013, the oil & gas industry was booming and that meant jobs were easy to find. We started job hunting on the Monday and were both given contracts to the same engineering firm on the Friday. We were stoked about how quickly things progressed and before we knew it we were working…
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[#3 Lesson] Sample Life for Everything It Has to Offer

[#3 Lesson] Sample Life for Everything It Has to Offer

BUCKET LIST, LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog post #3 Go Skydiving. I did my first tandem skydive in August 2013 but did not learn to skydive until December 2014. For some people, they are hooked after their first tandem and jump straight into their advanced freefall course to learn how to solo skydive. I was a bit different. I did my tandem jump to cross it off my bucket list and it was exciting and an amazing rush, but I did not instantly think it was something that I wanted to do as a hobby. It was in February 2014 that I was watching episodes of Nitro Circus when I decided that I wanted to learn how to solo skydive. In their show they were always doing skydiving or…
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#3 Go Skydiving

#3 Go Skydiving

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 10th August 2013 in Wanaka, New Zealand. Our snowboarding trip on the South Island of New Zealand continued through Queenstown and Wanaka after I crossed #14 Ski a “Real” Mountain off my list at Mount Olympus. The Queenstown and Wanaka area is amazing because there are so many adventure sports and activities packed into one little zone. The skiing is seasonal but mountain biking, bungee jumping, skydiving and many other activities are done all year round. I found a good deal on a tandem skydive at Skydive Wanaka, so we made sure to fit that into our plans. I had always wanted to skydive when I lived in Canada and tried to organise it with my friends a couple times, but it never…
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Top 3 Unbelievable Adventures

Top 3 Unbelievable Adventures

GENERAL, INFORMATION
Well, it’s New Year’s Day on this side of the world and that means that it is time to think about what you want to do this year, if you haven’t already. I recently read The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris. Tim thinks a bit different from the general population and offers many tips and tricks to be more effective and achieve all your life goals. One chapter that I really liked was called “Doing the Unrealistic Is Easier Than Doing the Realistic”. In this chapter, Tim says, “Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal.” This inspired me to compile a list of my top 3 unbelievable adventures. These are crazy…
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[#14 Lesson] You Only Have to Prove Things to Yourself

[#14 Lesson] You Only Have to Prove Things to Yourself

LESSON
This life lesson relates to my previous blog #14 Ski a “Real” Mountain. This was the first time I had rode my snowboard on a real mountain, the first time I hiked up a mountain, my first time on the South Island and many other firsts. But the lesson I learned happened along the adventure. You only have to prove things to yourself! I touch on this in my 5 Simple Steps to Starting a Bucket List. YOUR bucket list is for YOU. Not your friends, not your family, not Facebook. Just you! If you’re a goal-driven person, like myself, you get satisfaction from completing your goals and crossing another item off your list. It can be easy to get caught up in the feeling and want to bend the…
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Life Below the Rim: Whitewater Rafting the Grand Canyon

Life Below the Rim: Whitewater Rafting the Grand Canyon

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
While this is a classic bucket list item, it’s not actually from my list. It’s from my mum’s list. In 2017, my mum and I were at a Christmas party for the company I worked for at the time. We were all hanging around the pool and BBQing (yes, that is what we do around Christmas time in NZ) when I overheard my mum and another colleague, Luke, talking about the Grand Canyon. I heard her say “I’ve always wanted to whitewater raft the Grand Canyon” and then the conversation continued. Later that night, when we returned home, I asked my mum about her conversation with Luke. She brushed it off and said, “I think it would be amazing to do but it will never happen”. I said, “Why not?…
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#14 Ski a “Real” Mountain

#14 Ski a “Real” Mountain

BUCKET LIST, TRAVEL
This bucket list item was completed on 29th July 2013 at Mount Olympus, Canterbury New Zealand. This may sound like a bit of a weird one coming from a kid who grew up skiing in Canada but I’m from the East Coast, not the West Coast. The West Coast has the beloved Rockies and endless ski resorts with amazing terrain… The East Coast has hills that accumulate snow during the winter months. That’s about it. Needless to say I got bored of skiing on the East Coast by the time I was a teenager but I never managed to get out west to ski real mountains. I had always seen this as something I wanted to accomplish, so naturally it landed on the bucket list. I knew that New Zealand…
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Bucket List Stats

Bucket List Stats

GENERAL
It has now been two years since I started BucketLaunch and it has been a bit of a journey. At first, when I started the blog, I thought that this might be a way for me to create a passive income and subsidise my bucket list adventures. I really did try to make this happen, but it's tough to gain a following out of thin air. Some people are gifted with social media and can do this, but not me. I stressed about this for the first year or so before I realised that I had lost sight of the reason that I started my bucket list back in 2010... to get the most out of life. I have since changed tack and write the way that I enjoy, but…
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