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    Life Before The Lottery: The 30x30 List Living Beyond the Bucket
    Life Before The Lottery: The 30x30 List Living Beyond the Bucket
    Life Before The Lottery: The 30x30 List Living Beyond the Bucket
    Ebook246 pages2 hours

    Life Before The Lottery: The 30x30 List Living Beyond the Bucket

    By Ashlee Bratton

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    About this ebook

    DID YOU KNOW?
    Walt Disney went bankrupt at age 22 and was fired by a newspaper for "lacking imagination." He went on to create 81 feature films and receive 48 Academy Awards.
    Dr Seuss' first book was rejected by 27 different publishers by age 33. He's now one of the most popular children's authors of all time.
    Vera Wang failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure-skating team and struggled as an editor at Vogue. She started designing wedding gowns at age 40 and went on to become a premier clothing designer in a multi-billion dollar industry.
    What would you do if you had no fears and nothing holding you back? There is life before winning the lottery. In order to live your dream life, you do not need to hold the winning ticket. One girl proved it.

    Ashlee Bratton turned her 'someday' bucket list into a real life challenge with a real life expiration date crossing off 29 of the 30 items on her 30x30 list...all before turning 30! If she can do it, so can you!

    Take a walk down the Failure Hall of Fame and follow the flops of those who have failed miserably and yet have soared into impossible success and risen beyond embarrassment and defeat. We all have those 'someday' dreams rolling around inside us. Call it a bucket list, call it a someday list, call it a life list (call it whatever you want). So much more than a bucket list, take the 30x30 challenge and learn to live beyond the bucket.

    Dreams weren't meant to stay in your head. You can live your dreams. It's never too late...it's never too soon either.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAshlee Bratton
    Release dateMar 8, 2015
    Life Before The Lottery: The 30x30 List Living Beyond the Bucket
    Author

    Ashlee Bratton

    Ashlee Bratton is a professional photographer, freelance writer, and inspiring speaker with a bachelor’s degree in speech communication and master’s degree in business administration. Along with completing 29 of the 30 things on her 30×30 list, her writing contributions include numerous publications such as Vail’s EAT magazine, creating a 56 page Visitor Guide for a mountain ski town, blogging and guest blogging, being featured in multiple newspapers and e-zines, and various other projects. “Words Are My World.” Currently, she keeps her camera in hand in Southern Colorado, is a complete and total foodie, and takes plane rides for fun. She likes things that go.

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      Book preview

      Life Before The Lottery - Ashlee Bratton

      PART 1

      THE STARTING LINE

      Introduction

      Dreams. We all have them. As children, we dream of being doctors, firefighters, astronauts, teachers, moms, and dads. We dream of our wedding day, of throwing the winning touchdown, of performing in front of thousands. But then somewhere along the way something happens. Somewhere in the process of growing up, we quit dreaming. It happens to everyone. Security and safety take the place of risk and reward. It happens to everyone.

      Deborah Cobrae

      Pastor, Rock Church & World Outreach Center

      It’s easy to give up. Sometimes we pretend we don’t even want it anymore. We lie to ourselves. It happens to everyone.

      It happened to me.

      Dejected and discouraged, I found myself stuffing my desires away and wanting to pretend I didn’t care about whether or not a dream would happen anymore—to protect myself just in case it didn’t happen. It happens to everyone.

      When we don’t know what to do next, when it looks like it won’t happen, when each step forward turns out to be two steps back, or when our efforts seem utterly fruitless … it’s tempting to give up on dreams or the hope that anything good will happen. It happens to everyone.

      We dumb down our dreams. It happens to everyone.

      But what if your heart is asking you to dream again? What if there is a God that is asking you to dream again? What if your heart’s desires are planted there by God Himself? He is the ultimate dream giver. And what if it’s not really about you anyway? What if it’s not for your glory or benefit, but for His? Maybe you are meant to inspire others, help someone in need, start a business, or encourage someone else. Perhaps it’s to feed the hungry, patent an invention, or even lead a group ... it’s never too late. Ever. The world is waiting!

      That’s the beauty of dreams. There’s a side to them that’s overwhelming, and there’s a side that can be tangible and real. If we let them, they can become very, very real.

      I should know. I’ve lived it. One little list started it all. Several years ago this twenty-something girl created a list of 30 things to do before turning 30 … and lived them out; seeing 29 of the 30 things on that list actually come to pass! I am a living, breathing example that dreams really can and do come true, (and not just at Disneyland!) We don’t have to wait for someday. We don’t have to win the lottery to experience them. We can live our dream lives and pursue happiness without holding the winning ticket. There is life before the lottery. Against all odds, we truly can see the impossible become possible.

      The stories within these pages and behind the 30X30 list—the good, the bad, and the downright entertaining are proof of the reminders that we need to keep dreaming. Always keep dreaming. There’s a list in you somewhere too. I just know it.

      1

      Thirty Is A Dirty Number.

      Not happy. Actually, downright miserable. Caught somewhere in that in-between phase where what once worked and was important had shifted to drudgery and was no longer fulfilling. I had hit a wall. But what to do from there was elusive, evasive and beyond reach. I had graduated from college, relocated across the country completely solo, left all friends and family behind for a fantastic job opportunity with a Fortune 500 company and was excited to stretch myself and find a sense of independence and adventure. Things were good. I was 23 and had the world opening up before me.

      Just a few short years later, I sat at a coffee shop on a Tuesday afternoon playing hooky from a job I was miserable at and found myself researching the price of moving trucks. I was done. In my mind I was going to call it quits and move back to Colorado. How did I get to that point? Was this what I really wanted? To let go of what I had worked so hard to get, just to give up, move home and start all over again? Did I need an overhaul in my life or just an overhaul in my attitude and perspective? Which one was easiest? That’s what the coffee was for—to sit, and stew, and think.

      What did I really want? That was a tough question that would take me some time to answer.

      Right there in that coffee shop, holed up in the corner armed with a pen and a napkin, I started the game of pretend. Pretend the moving truck was set for two weeks from that moment and I was about to pack up and leave that wretched place of frustration and stagnation. Was there anything I would miss? Anything that I would wish I had done while I had the opportunity and proximity to do? If I were to never ever return to that city or that state, what regrets would I have and what woulda-coulda-shouldas would I be leaving behind in the dust of that moving truck?

      It was in that moment, that moment of miserable pouting and planning, that it was born—it would change my life forever and be the best thing that I had ever done. Really. It was in that moment of complete honesty and raw emotions that by grace and out of pure desperation was born my 30 by 30 list. Scratched on a napkin was my 30x30 List. A list of 30 things I wanted to do before turning 30 years old. It was specific, had a date of expiration, and was exactly the challenge needed. From the far-fetched to the practical shoulds, I walked out of that coffee shop with a game plan for the next five years … and a reason to postpone booking that moving truck.

      Fast forward five years and 29 crossed-off items later, and you’ll find a girl who is so grateful for those miserable moments in a coffee shop. I am so blessed to be able to say that I crossed off 29—yes, 29—of the 30 items on that 30×30 list. This was no ordinary to-do list. It was so much more than just a bucket list. It was learning to live beyond the bucket, take hold of someday, and live life before the lottery. Learning that the good life doesn’t have to wait for a winning ticket.

      The 30×30 list is not about turning thirty, hitting the big 3-0, or any other age milestone for that matter. Barf. Thirty just happened to be the season of life I was in at the time and the number that jolted me into action. And for that I am very grateful to the number thirty. But thirty describes a season, not an age.

      We are all in different seasons of our lives, and different seasons call for different strategies on how to cope, prepare and move forward into the next season. That’s the beauty of seasons, they change.

      Twenty-nine of the thirty items are done. The last few years have been an adventure that I had never thought could be a reality. I am no one special, have no magic powers, and am not wonder woman. I am just a regular girl from Colorado that took my buried desires and asked My Maker to help me out of my funk … and through that I feel like I’ve had super hero adventures.

      The number that just happened to trigger it all for me was thirty. Your number may be different. Maybe there’s a number calling to you. You could just as easily label it a 40×40 list, a Dirty Thirty List, your Decade List, a Fabulous Fifty List, your Life List, or even roll with a plain and simple Bucket List. No matter what, your list can be your life changer. It was for me. Life Before The Lottery is a story about how a bad day, a bad number, and a bad attitude turned into something that was anything but bad. The lessons learned and the stories I can now tell have influenced and impacted the world around me.

      This book is not a how-to goal-setting book, or a memoir, or a self-help manual. This is a story of lessons learned through something that impacted my world in a way that I just can’t keep quiet about—the good, the bad, the beautiful and the down right ugly. The 30×30 list was something I desperately needed, something I did for me, and somewhere along the way I discovered that it really wasn’t about me at all. People want to hear the stories. We love to see proof that it can happen. With 29 of the 30 items crossed off, there are definitely stories to tell! One of the first things people always ask me is, What’s the one thing you didn’t do? This always brings a giggle because why is it that out of 30 amazing things, people always want to know the one thing that I didn’t do? Why are we so eager to know about the failures than to hear about all the positive successes? It’s human nature. For now, that one’s a secret. Don’t worry, human nature and curiosity will be satisfied and I’ll answer that question a little bit later. There’s definitely a story and a lesson behind the one that got away!

      Life itself can be a phenomenal teacher, and there are many lessons to learn in the 30×30 journey in discovering how to live life before the lottery. One of the lessons learned was that if I am struggling with something, I am probably not the only one. If my story and the lessons learned can inspire and help even just one person get out of his or her own coffee shop funk, then it’s time the tale is told.

      There can be life before the lottery. We can dare to dream and find that there is happiness before winning the big one. We don’t have to hold the winning ticket to be happy; we can enjoy life right now. Not someday, but today.

      But how? Good question.

      In the process of crossing off my 30×30 list and even in writing this book, I’ve noticed something strange. In conversations with people I am often told, Oh, I’ve always wanted to do that! Apparently there are more people out there than I ever imagined who want to sky dive, swim with dolphins, raft the Grand Canyon, help the homeless, or write a book. These types of comments are so encouraging because I know that I’m not the only one in pursuit of these things and I’m definitely not crazy in the things that I desire or the actions that I’m taking. OK, maybe just a little crazy. But I’m not the only one.

      But these comments I hear

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