高清福利片

In the 2007 film聽聽Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman play two main characters who respond to their terminal cancer diagnoses by rejecting experimental treatment. Instead, they go on a range of energetic, overseas escapades.

Since then, the term 鈥渂ucket list鈥� 鈥� a list of experiences or achievements to complete before you 鈥渒ick the bucket鈥� or die 鈥� has become common.

You can read articles listing 聽you must visit before you die or聽聽Australian bucket-list travel experiences.

But there is a more serious side to the idea behind bucket lists. One of the key forms of suffering at the end of life聽聽for things left unsaid or undone. So bucket lists can serve as a form of insurance against this potential regret.

The bucket-list search for adventure, memories and meaning takes on a life of its own with a diagnosis of life-limiting illness.

In a聽聽published this week, 54 people living with cancer, and 28 of their friends and family said a key bucket list item was travel.

Why is travel so important?

There are lots of reasons why travel plays such a central role in our ideas about a 鈥榣ife well-lived鈥�. Travel is often linked to important聽: the youthful gap year, the journey to self-discovery in the 2010 film聽, or the popular figure of the 鈥樷��.

The significance of travel is not merely in the destination, nor even in the journey. For many people, planning the travel is just as important. A cancer diagnosis affects people鈥檚 sense of control over their future, throwing into question their ability to write their own life story or plan their travel dreams.

Mark, the recently retired husband of a woman with cancer, spoke about their stalled travel plans:

鈥淲e鈥檙e just in that part of our lives where we were going to jump in the caravan and do the big trip and all this sort of thing, and now [our plans are] on blocks in the shed.鈥�

For others, a cancer diagnosis brought an urgent need to 鈥榯ick things off鈥� their bucket list. Asha, a woman living with breast cancer, had always been driven to 鈥榞et things done鈥� but the cancer diagnosis made this worse:

鈥淪o, I had to do all the travel, I had to empty my bucket list now, which has kind of driven my partner round the bend.鈥�

People鈥檚 travel dreams ranged from whale watching in Queensland to seeing polar bears in the Arctic, and from driving a caravan across the Nullarbor Plain to skiing in Switzerland.

Nadia, 38, said travelling with her family had made important memories and given her a sense of vitality, despite her health struggles. Being diagnosed with cancer had given her the chance to live her life at a younger age, rather than waiting for retirement:

鈥淚n the last three years, I think I鈥檝e lived more than a lot of 80-year-olds.鈥�

But travel is expensive

Of course, travel is expensive. It鈥檚 not by chance Nicholson鈥檚 character in The Bucket List is a billionaire.

Some people empty their savings, assuming they would no longer need to provide for aged care or retirement. Others had used insurance payouts or charity to make their bucket-list dreams come true.

鈥淲e鈥檝e actually bought a new car and [had been] talking about getting a new caravan鈥� But I鈥檝e got to work. It鈥檇 be nice if there was a little money tree out the back but never mind,鈥� said Jim, a 60-year-old whose wife had been diagnosed with cancer.

Not everyone鈥檚 bucket list items were expensive. Some chose to spend more time with loved ones, take up a new hobby or get a pet.

Our study showed making plans to tick items off a list can give people a sense of self-determination and hope for the future. It was a way of exerting control in the face of an illness that can leave people feeling powerless.聽

鈥淭his disease is not going to control me. I am not going to sit still and do nothing. I want to go travel,鈥� explained Asha.

Something we 鈥榦ught鈥� to do?

Bucket lists are also a symptom of a broader culture that emphasises conspicuous聽听补苍诲听, even into the end of life.

Indeed, people said travelling can be exhausting, expensive and stressful, especially when they鈥檙e also living with the symptoms and side effects of treatment. Nevertheless, they felt travel was something they 鈥溾�� to do.

Travel can be deeply meaningful, as our study found. But a life well-lived need not be extravagant or adventurous. Finding what is meaningful is a deeply personal journey.

Names of study participants mentioned in this article are pseudonyms.

顿谤鈥�Leah Williams Veazey鈥痠s ARC DECRA Research Fellow in the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies in the School of Social and Political Sciences.

顿谤鈥�Katherine Kenny鈥痠s Deputy Director of the鈥疭ydney Centre for Healthy Societies, ARC DECRA Senior Research Fellow, and SOAR Prize鈥痳ecipient in the School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Sydney.

笔谤辞蹿别蝉蝉辞谤听Alex Broom聽is Director of the鈥疭ydney Centre for Healthy Societies. He is recognised as an international leader in sociology, with a specific interest in health, illness, and care.聽

This story was first published in鈥�. Hero Photo: Adobe Stock Image