what do you want to do before you die?
Seen today on another blog post:
What Do YOU Want To Do Before You Die?
A morbid topic? Maybe, definitely not something we tend to chat about with friends or family members, and yet maybe this is a conversation we should have, at least with ourselves. Here’s an excerpt of a post from Candy Cang at Huffington Post:
“… Contemplating death, as Stoics and other philosophers encourage, is a powerful tool to re-appreciate the present and remember what makes your life meaningful to you. We’re all trying to make sense of our lives and there’s great comfort in knowing you’re not alone. Everyone you’re standing with in line and everyone you’re sitting by in a cafe and everyone you walk past on the street is going through challenges in their life. Yet it’s easy to forget this because we rarely venture beyond small talk with strangers. There are a lot of barriers to opening up…”
I just want to add this: we all are going to die. It is inevitable. For some strange reason though, we fight it. We deny it. We go to great lengths to avoid it, as in having plastic surgery, coloring our hair to hide the grey, we lie about our age, we take hormones so that we have the virility of a teenager on prom night...I could go on and on.
What we miss, however, is the fact that we do not know when our time is up and this is the sad thing. We give up so much time that we could be spending with another person by simply trying to hide the fact that our time is limited. It can be tomorrow, it may be eighty years from now. So, instead of living life on the vain side, maybe reaching out to others is a better option. Spend time with those who need a friend. If you have a family fight that needs patching up, go do it. I cannot tell you how many times I have been to funerals in which the survivors mourn the passing of someone with phrases such as, "I really should have said I was sorry." Or: "I wish I had spent more time with him/her!" Regrets get you nowhere after the fact!
Have you ever thought of it THIS way: "I wish so and so would come visit me!" said the invalid in the nursing home/hospital.
Life. It's short. Too short. Way too short.
Go make the most of it.
If today were your last day......what would you do?
that last thought is a wake up call! So many in nursing homes just give up on themselves and life because OTHERS GAVE UP ON THEM! Think about that!
ReplyDeleteI had an uncle who was diagnosed with cancer. "Oh, I'll go see him on Saturday," I promised myself. This Saturday turned into that Saturday, which turned into one excuse after another.
ReplyDeleteWhen the funeral came, I couldn't even attend that. I felt too guilty for not saying what I needed to say to him. It's to late. He's gone now and I kick myself every day for putting it off.
been here. done this. mom is gone now. I should have visited her when she asked me to.
DeleteI had to visit my dad in a nursing home. So many of those poor folks just sit and stare into space, strapped to a wheelchair or just left in a hallway. UGH! Shoot me if that is ever me.
ReplyDeleteSometimes even when the ones you love are here among us, we waste those moments...ok...no excuses...I drank myself to death while my wife waited for me to sober up. Day after day. What a waste that was. She was killed by a drunk driver. My memories of her are of her crying, begging me to quit. And I laughed her off...and kept right on drinking. That is a sober wake up call right there.
ReplyDelete