This has been a rough week. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Rene Angelil, Glenn Frey, Sandra Dee, Mic Gillette. It feels like a punch in the gut every time I open up Facebook and see that someone else has died. You start to wonder if something deeper and more sinister is going on… or maybe, it’s just life that is harsh and cruel and takes people who have so much more to give.
It’s hard to not think about your own life and what your legacy will be. You know I turned 50 almost a month ago. 50. It’s a big number. It’s not easy to assume you’ll live to 100 anymore… especially after so many 60-somethings left us this week. So… what if I only had another 10 - 20 years to live? What do I want to DO with those days, months, years I have left? This is what I want to do:
- Enjoy my children for as long as they still are children.
- Spend more time (quality AND quantity) with my kids and husband.
- Wake up each morning excited about what the day will hold.
- Make a positive difference in people’s lives.
- Do things, buy things, experience things that make me happy.
- Purge all the things from my life that stress me out.
- Don’t waste time on anything that doesn’t fulfill me in some way.
- Listen to music more.
- Read more.
- Write more.
It’s not a complicated list. It’s a list that makes sense to me and something that I’m going to print out and hang up and look at every single day. None of us know how long we have. While we’re still healthy and able… let’s focus on US and live an awesome life.
Carolyn, love your honesty and insight! Thanks for sharing.
January has certainly brought is all face to face with our own mortality and has given us pause to think “What have I done with my life so far? And what am I going to do with it starting now?”
You’re list is a great list. Very inspiring.
PS Sandra Dee died in 2005.