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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Priorities (3 of 5)

Sher asks: If you were told you had only one year left to live, what would you do?  What would you change, if anything, in your life?


I must say that a lot in my life would change.  Some of these changes would be changes that I should make in my life anyway ... I need to read the scriptures more, I need to spend more one on one time with my kids, I need to be less verbally critical of my family and less critical in my head of others.  I need to write in my journal and I need to throw away a lot of junk.  I need to go on more walks with my husband and kids.  I need to relax.

But there are many things that I'd change simply because priorities change with time.  When I am working on my "list" for Christmas, things start getting cut the closer I get to the holiday.  Does that mean that these were bad or not worthy of my time to begin with?  No.  All it means is that finding myself down to 4 days left, I need to start deciding what is absolutely essential, or nothing will get completely finished.  So if I were to learn that I only had a year to live, instead of the 40-50 more that I anticipate, I'd begin to cut out the non-essential.  That would include blogging.  That would even include being my son's team mom.  I'd still happily go to the games, but I doubt I'd spend my limited time to make sure everyone remembers their week to bring the snack.  I wouldn't worry about losing weight.  I'd hire someone to clean the house if I could afford it.   Like most of us, these changes would largely revolve around my family and my God and finding ways to spend every possible moment with them.

Some of you may argue that we never really know how much time we have left.  I could get hit by a bus tomorrow.  (It's always a bus, isn't it?)  Absolutely.  And I agree that I should work on those things listed in the first paragraph because of it.  But if I live my entire life assuming that it will be short, I will miss out on a lot of great non-essentials.  My kids would feel smothered.  I've written before about the end of summer and the growing pit in my stomach which develops as I worry that I'm not making the most of my remaining vacation time.  It makes for a less enjoyable time off.  I think the same would happen if I assumed my life was ticking down to a premature finish.  That's no way to live.

I am thankful for a long life expectancy and relative good health.  I am thankful that the days are getting longer again.  I am thankful for the beautiful rainbow we saw out our front window yesterday.  May we all live life a little more fully and be happy with where we are.

16 fishy comments:

Goob said...

Its nice to see you back. And I totally agree that living each day as though you knew you were dying would be no way to live. I know there are all the songs and posters and other motivational tools instructing us to live like each was our last, but I don't like it.
Nice post, as usual. Hope you guys are getting settled in. :)

Cajoh said...

What a great way of putting it. I guess that most people don't see it that way. I'm always trying to just live and not have to worry about getting it all in.

Hope you're enjoying your new digs.

Annette Lyon said...

This is a really great point--we can't always live every day as if it's our last, because the priorities would be different. (If it was my last day, I probably wouldn't go grocery shopping. But it needs to be done.)

Brooke said...

I love your insight. I think the only thing I would do different (daily) is to make absolute sure that the people I love KNOW it. Otherwise, life just has to go on. I will be happy with who I am and where I am. Thanks again. Oh, and don't worry about the link thing. Apparently a lot of people have had a hard time with it, it is on the fritz.

Jillene said...

What a great post Mina!! I would also smother my children and my husband. And along eith Brooke, I would make sure that the ones that I love dearly knew it and knew it often.

Becky said...

What a great way to put it! We're always told to live as if this day would be your last, but I never thought about that being a bit stifling.

Excellent post.

Heatherlyn said...

I would get all my journals in order. It wouldn't take the whole year to do. But even if it took an entire month, I would do it. And I would write letters to my children. I probably should do that NOW anyway. Because we never do know when our life will end here and we won't have time to get it done.

I like how you said "smother" your children. I could probably do a little more of that now! Why not? They grow up too quickly!

Lara Neves said...

Loved this. I never thought of it quite that way before, and you just alleviated a lot of guilt. :)

Anonymous said...

Maybe I subconsciously think I only have a year left to live, because I don't seem to be worrying too much about losing weight or cleaning my house right now. As usual, you always have a great and unique point of view. Gives me food for thought. Have a great week!

Loralee and the gang... said...

Wow - I love how you have worked out the balance between getting the essentials done and enjoying life's little pleasures. Maybe it's harder to do in practice, but you at least have it worked out in your head,so you know what your goals need to be! I'm going to try to figure out my life so I can live it more in balance, for sure...
:~D

Lisa said...

I concur with most of you things. I would add, need to eat more chocolate and not give a flying flip about it. °Ü°

mCat said...

Very well said! And, thought provoking for me. Thanks!

rachel said...

Welcome back Mina :) Beautiful post once again! I think so often we do live like we only have one year left anyway, because of the gospel.
We write, we share testimony, we bear witness to others, we have opportunities to show love all the time, and we laugh a whole bunch. This has made me realize that I need to write EVERY day and leave a legacy to my kids. It's all about joy in the journey, isn't it? No matter how long we all have...

Melanie Jacobson said...

Knowing that my parents had only a short time to live really taught me some important lessons about how to live. And you're right, it starts with cutting out the non-essential and making it all about family.

Sher said...

That a great perspective. If I knew I had only one day left, I would do thing differently, but I know I'll be around tomorrow, so I guess it's all relative.

p.s. this might seem inappropriate since this is kind of a serious post, but WV: sperm.
I couldn't help bring that up.
Tee-hee!

Just SO said...

I really like your perspective on this. Really I do. Thanks for giving me something to think about.