100 Things To Do Before You Die

We came up with a big list to make your life fuller

Walking 100 miles or kilometers on foot is a feat. Not impossible, but definitely not something you’d undertake ill prepared without a change of clothes or a plan for where you’re going. Life is like that too. If you set out to wander through this life like a restless little leaf, you might find yourself in some decent places, but you’ll never really know what it’s like to experience a life lived in true richness. You also might wind up in some dusty, forgotten little corner you can’t back out of. We asked Word on the Street writers and other creatives from both the US and the Philippines what their hot take is on living a rich life. This list is inspired by their actual experiences. 

If you’ve done a few of these things too, that’s a cool thing. If you think some of these things are weird and you would never, that’s your prerogative. Either way, enjoy, and then get out there and live a life worth living. Don’t be a fool and waste it wishing for life to happen to you. 

1. Learn how to speak a foreign language from a local, then go and talk to locals 

2. Spend a year (or more) in a culture very different than your own 

3. Get lost on purpose (but make sure you can find your way home) 

4. Spend a weekend with your three closest friends in the woods (without your phones) 

5. Introduce yourself to every neighbor on your block or in your apartment complex 

6. Volunteer somewhere that you have no idea what you’re doing, but can learn it from someone as you volunteer alongside of them 

7. Invest your life in someone 10 years younger than you (in a mentor-type role) 

8. Invest your life in someone 10 years older than you (in a mentor-type role) 

9. Grow your own food

10. Learn how to survive with less stuff 

11. Set a budget and stick with it 

12. Learn how to cook food from a culture very different than your own 

13. Get rid of one thing (either donate or sell) per month for at least a year 

14. Learn how to ride a motorcycle 

15. Learn the names of the workers at the shops you frequent 

16. Take your parents out to dinner and ask them about their lives 

17. Take your grandparents out to dinner and ask them about their lives 

18. Share a meal with new friends you just met that day 

19. Cry because you’re so happy 

20. Make up the dialogue you can’t hear on a TV screen because there’s no audio since you’re in a public space 

21. Eat something you’re unsure of how to pronounce 

22. Go on such a long walk with friends that your calves ache 

23. Leave your phone at home on purpose

24. Learn how to cook large quantities so you can host a big group for dinner 

25. Go down a new road in your city (neighborhood/home) you’ve never been on before 

26. Get into a conversation with a stranger 

27. Invent a new way to playUno with your friends 

28. Wake up in time to see the sunrise 

29. Write a letter and send it to someone in the mail 

30. Give a free lesson to someone younger than you teaching a skill you have 

31. Give a good book to a friend 

32. Learn a new language with a friend 

33. Create a design for a shirt, print it and wear it (not to sell, just to have) 

34. Grow a plant from an unknown seed 

35. Invite a friend to do an art project together. 

36. Go camping, have a bonfire 

37. Invite a friend for brunch 

38. Invent a drink and serve it to your friends (like a Coke, Pepsi and banana ketchup) 

39. Invite friends over and share a meal

40. Pick up trash 

41. Go on a bike ride 

42. Don’t ride a jeepney for a whole month (walk instead) 

43. Ask your grandparents about growing up 

44. Explore a park you haven’t visited 

45. Solve a Rubik’s Cube 

46. Eat a spiky tropical fruit  

47. Submit an article to your local Christian magazine 

48. Give to your favorite charity organization 

49. Listen to a song with your eyes closed 

50. Walk 500 miles, then walk 500 more 

51. Bake a chocolate cake for your mom 

52. Drink a cold beer (after you’re 21) in the shower 

53. Have a cigar and watch the sunset with friends 

54. Learn how to ice skate 

55. Plant a garden 

56. Force yourself to eat something you don’t normally like 

57. Invent a new language and translate your favorite book to it 

58. Listen to only new genres of music for an entire year 

59. Eat toast in the shower 

60. Eat 60 M&Ms in one sitting 

61. Pet a chicken 

62. Discover the meaning of Stonehenge 

63. Sleep outside on the ground 

64. Sit on the edge of a tall building 

65. Wait until after it rains, then go outside and smell the petrichor 

66. Try to recall every detail of your happiest memory, write them down on stationary, then fold it into a paper airplane, and throw it into the sea 

67. Learn how to yo-yo 

68. Write a kind note to someone you think is underappreciated at work 

69. Build a model ship 

70. Make a playlist with 70 of your all-time favorite songs 

71. Learn how refrigerators work 

72. Ride a ferry through rough waters 

73. Pet the next (non-rabid) dog you see (with owner permission) 

74. Watch the currently worst rated movie at the theater 

75. Learn how to ride a unicycle 

76. Take picture of a friend doing the thing where they pose against a large object in the background as if they’re leaning on it 

77. Become proficient at an instrument  

78. Make friends with a crow (they’re really smart) 

79. Volunteer regularly 

80. Buy someone a meal anonymously 

81. Know your neighbors by name 

82. Cook with locals while traveling

83. Create something that outlasts you 

84. Forgive someone you’ve held resentment toward 

85. Learn a skill from someone older than you 

86. Leave positive sticky notes in random places 

87. Go somewhere without an agenda 

88. Become a regular somewhere 

89. Learn one person’s life story 

90. Take a bus/train to the last stop and explore the area 

91. Collect stories instead of souvenirs 

92. Learn how to fix something instead of replacing it

93. Help someone move 

94. Drink coffee 

95. Know how to read a real, paper map 

96. Get groceries with friends instead of alone 

97. Read books until you actually like reading 

98. Backpack through another country 

99. Read a lot of books just for fun 

100.  Write a list of 100 things to do before you die 

DISCLAIMER: Doing any or all of these things does not guarantee you a rich life. Some of these are rather silly anyway (but fun!). Living a rich life can only be found in Jesus. He is the key, the source, and the embodiment of what real life is. So, while some of these items may give you a glimpse of that, Jesus Himself is the true wealth you’re after. When you get to know Him, you might find yourself doing previously unrecognizable things, like reading the Bible. Or committing to a local bible-teaching church. Or not trusting your heart so much anymore, but instead trusting Him. Pretty soon, your own “100 Things List” will be better than anything you could have come up with on your own. Worth it, right?