Earlier this week, Restore’s annual conference, storeRe 2022, landed at the JW Marriott in downtown Austin, Texas for two and a half days of fun, live music and motivation to live life to the fullest. At the near end of the conference, attendees were treated to a special visit from New York Times Bestselling author Ben Nemtin, co-founder of The Buried Life movement and inspirational keynote speaker.
Nemtin’s book, “What do you want to do before you die?” is an account of Nemtin and four friends in pursuit of a meaningful life.
Ben Nemtin was a normal happy kid, growing up in Canada and playing rugby. Then depression hit. His anxiety stopped him from attending school, he dropped out of college and he was dropped from his rugby team.
“I slowly realized that I had been living the life I wanted other people to see — not the life I wanted for myself,” said Nemtin. And in an attempt to reset his life, Nemtin compiled a list of 100 things to do before you die.
“There were so many things we wanted to do, but we hadn’t done them because they were buried,” said Nemtin. “We were buried by work, school, life, and we had moments of inspiration but eventually those became buried by the day-to-day.”
To “unbury” these dreams, Nemtin began asking the question: What do you want to do before you die? Nemtin believed that death was the only thing that shook our foundations enough to ask what was really important. In answering that question, an extensive list was created, and with that came caveats.
1) You had to pretend you had $100 million in your bank account.
2) You had to pretend that you could do anything.
Some were serious, some were fun and some were in the “what’s even possible” camp. Soon, word spread and people were reaching out, helping him cross things off the bucket list, while simultaneously sending in their own requests. And after returning from London, where they crossed off “have a beer with Prince Harry,” Nemtin and cohorts decided to continue doing what they loved. Soon, it became a movement.
“A bucket list is essential for your own health and wellness, your own mental health,” says Nemtin. “It’s also important for the people around you, because you can’t take care of other people if you can’t take care of yourself.”
Nemtin went on to cite a research article published by psychologist Tim Gilovich entitled “The Ideal Road Not Taken,” in which Gilovich found that 76% of participants mentioned a regret about not fulfilling their ideal self in life.
But, there’s no deadlines for personal goals. And as stated earlier, life has a way of getting in the way of our dreams and goals. Fortunately, Ben Nemtin is your new accountability partner.
And according to him, the most important question you can ask yourself is “What do you want to do before you die?”
For more info on Nemtin’s bucket list, check out his site here and follow him on Instagram here.
