New Year, New Adventures For These Bucket Listers

Late December is often a time for reflection on time past—often followed by an obligatory New Year’s resolution, generally forgotten soon after.For some, the turn of another year and the concept of a clean slate mean more than a half-hearted promise to hit the gym more, or to lay off the extra-cheese pizza. It is the chance to tackle the most minute—or the most lofty—goals with an all-encompassing bucket list that focuses more on positive, fulfilling aspirations, rather than deprivation of guilty pleasures.

But sometimes it takes more than a new year to snap one’s life into perspective.

For East Hampton resident Roy Cohen, it was September 11, 2001. The tragedy was a wake-up call, he said. After seeing how quickly life could change, he created a bucket list, which has since become an annual tradition.

“My office, for many years, was at the World Trade Center,” he said last week during a telephone interview. “When I lost that office, it flipped a switch for me. I realized that life was so precious, and to not extract every possible ounce of potential was short-changing myself, and I couldn’t blame anyone but myself for what I wasn’t accomplishing.”

About 10 years ago, he biked through the hills north of Venice. Next year, he will bike again, this time from Oslo to Copenhagen. In between, he traveled to Israel and wrote a book, “The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide: Success Secrets of a Career Coach”—another check off the bucket list, not to mention a New York Times bestseller.

“I never expected it to turn out that way,” he said. “I did it as more of a personal goal, to prove to myself that I can write. But I’ve gotten such good feedback, it’s been really inspiring.”

The concept of the “bucket list”—the places one wants to go, the things one wants to do, the aspirations one wants to accomplish—has gained international popularity, though its roots are unclear. The expression derives from the phrase “kicking the bucket,” a longtime euphemism for dying, and really took off with the 2007 release of “The Bucket List,” a movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. They portray two terminally ill cancer patients who do it all—from skydiving to visiting the Taj Mahal—and, based on its grossing $175 million despite cutting reviews, the idea of a “bucket list” struck a chord with Americans, even President Barack Obama.

After the September NATO summit in Wales, President Obama insisted on visiting Stonehenge. “Knocked it off the bucket list right now,” he reportedly said before returning to his car.

For Southampton resident Karen Amster-Young, her take on the classic bucket list is a bit untraditional. She reimagined it into a blog-turned-book, “The 52 Weeks,” which challenged her and friend Pam Godwin to tackle a new goal every week for a year.

“We just felt stuck,” she said during a telephone interview from her apartment in Manhattan. “You bring up your kids and, as a mother, you’re so focused on them and doing things for them that you kind of lose sight of your own interests.”

The blog’s goal was essentially “anti-resolution,” she said. Starting a bucket list doesn’t need to coincide with the New Year, she explained, and the emphasis should be more on carving out personal time, instead of cutting something out.

“You can’t always afford to travel to three countries to restart your life,” Ms. Amster-Young laughed. “People have obligations, financially, to their families, but there are ways to still experience things and do things without having to pick up your whole life.”

In that spirit, Ms. Amster-Young said she desperately wanted to go to France but didn’t have time in her schedule to take the trip. Instead, she planned a French-themed week in Manhattan. She took a cooking class, went to the French cinema, and brushed up on the French language.

“Pam and I also went to go test-drive sports cars as part of our list,” Ms. Amster-Young said. “I feel like, as women, we feel kind of guilty about doing something that doesn’t render an end-product, you know? I felt like, ‘Ugh, I shouldn’t be doing this, because I have so many other things to do.’ But it’s so important to take the time to do something fun for no other reason than it being fun. That was really our end-goal.”

Skyhorse Publishing quickly picked up the book in 2013. The book features interviews with experts in relationships, career development, and health and fitness, among other categories.

“It was ironic in a way,” Ms. Amster-Young said. “The whole idea behind being stuck was this idea of a routine and, many times, having to sit behind a computer, and we had just finished this year of adventure to then have to sit behind a computer to work on this book. But it was a good kind of stuck.”

“Getting stuck” is precisely the motivation behind Southampton native Cassie Lovett’s 2015 bucket list, after taking a few “amazing trips to the middle of nowhere this year,” she said.

“My co-worker and I got stuck in Atlanta for a night,” she said during a telephone interview last week from her office in Manhattan. “We were not psyched about it at first, but it ended up being this great little adventure. And, another time, I was on a road trip and our car broke down in the middle of Virginia, and we wound up exploring this little town. It wasn’t what I had expected, but I’ve learned to really take advantage of adventure—no matter how it comes to me.”

Among her list of goals, Ms. Lovett hopes to go out of her way for one person every day, win a bet and go gorilla trekking.

“I mean, I always try to be nice,” she laughed. “But that goal is a way of making it seem measurable and holding myself accountable for it. It doesn’t matter how small of a nice thing you do, to go out of your way to make someone’s day a little better is important. Everyone’s always so shocked when someone does something randomly nice for someone else, like, in public, and I just don’t think it should be as shocking as it is.”

As for winning a bet, Ms. Lovett said she is far from a gambler, but feels the pastime could help her become more of a risk-taker.

“Maybe I’ll buy stock—that’s kind of like gambling,” she said. “Or maybe I’ll literally try gambling. I’m hoping it would make me feel a little more comfortable with going out on a limb and taking a chance.”