Seize the day!

A little while ago, my husband and I hosted a discussion group in our home, where the question was asked: “If you only had 30 days to live… what would you do with your time?”. You really figure out what is important to you (and therefore what you should be focusing on) when your life’s ambitions are limited to a small window of opportunity.

The answers that people came up with were both insightful and inspiring. One girl said that she would do her best to help mend the broken relationships in her family before she went, and she’d tell everyone that she is close to how much she loves them. Another, who had always been curious about her ancestry, said that she would try to find out who her father’s biological parents were and where they came from. One of the guys said that he would visit Holland and go to the homes and villages where his deceased grandparents had lived before they immigrated to Canada. Another young man said that he would set aside his personal pride and throw himself into a cause, like raising money for cancer research, and also that he would like to visit the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

I almost cried when a young man, who I know has a heart for people recovering from natural disasters, told us that he would help as many people as he possibly could before his time ran out. And a teenaged girl said that she would adopt an “at risk” girl from China, so that even though she wouldn’t be around to see her daughter grow up, she would at least die knowing that she had helped someone escape being sold into the sex trade.

It’s interesting to me, how clarifying a conversation like that can be. We mull about doing our daily tasks, seldom stopping to look at the big picture. But, when we are faced with our own mortality, suddenly we know what matters to us and all the rest is just filler.

If I could do anything in the world right now… I would feed starving people at a refugee camp in Africa and hold an orphaned child so close to me that they would know beyond a shadow of a doubt that somebody loves them. I would make children feel safe and outcasts feel included and the destitute feel that they are not alone. That is my hearts cry… What’s yours?

A question like this helps you to figure out what matters to you, so that you can pursue it! My challenge to you is this: Ask yourself what you would do if you only had a month to live… and then take the necessary steps to ensure that you do it.

Where would you go?
What would you do or see?
Who would you call?
What would you say?
How would you leave your mark?
What would you change?

Why not now?

The fear factor

Recently, I read that the best, most thrilling, life defining, and memorable moments in our lives are the times when we are the most scared. That is certainly true my case!

My favorite memories are of times when I was petrified of something... but then looking back, after having survived the ordeal, I get a this sense of elation because I lived to tell about it.

I'm tired of going about my life playing it safe, worrying about the "what ifs"... Lately I've been too successful at avoiding humiliation, pain, rejectionand even failure. I think I'm ready to take some risks, make some memories and create some stories worth telling. After all... the bigger the risk the better the payoff.

Heidi