Write your obituary

What a ridiculous thing to say!!! I bet you thought that. I am very much alive and kicking, I have so much to do, my children are young and so on. But I am serious!

Imagine yourself dead and visualize people at your funeral. As each one of them come, they say something about you to your immediate family members. What do they say?

Of course, we don’t say bad things about a dead person. But what do they actually say? When your spouse or your kids stand there to speak, how will they describe you?  How many lives you were able to touch. How many times you put a smile on someone’s face, how many times you went out of your way to help somebody without expecting anything in return?

Remember that episode of the sitcom Frasier, where he is assumed to be dead and then he writes his own obituary. Actually, what I am asking you to do is an exercise in self-actualization. Write what you want to achieve as if you have actually achieved it. You are over 50 and you regret not having learnt classical music? Write that you started late in classical music and excelled in it. Whatever you want.

Then go over it and ask your self these questions.

If I die today, will I die happy? If not, what is lacking?

Have I fulfilled my goals and ambitions?

Have I grown as a person?

Have I set a good example for my children?

Have I been a supporting spouse and a loyal friend?

The answers will tell you what you have to do. You are not dead as yet so what is stopping you from doing things you wrote in your obituary? It’s too late? It’s never too late. You have but one life so why not fulfill your dreams.

Go out and take the risks you never did, develop the hobby that you have been putting at the back burner, learn that language you have been wanting to learn for years, take to public speaking that you always wanted, anything. Take that tour you and your spouse have been postponing for years.

Sit down with your family and ask them how they feel about you. Have a heart to heart chat with your spouse. Appreciate them for being there in your life. Say sorry for all the wrongs you have done. Strengthen your relationship. Forgive people for your own peace of mind. Move on, walk away from all negativity.

Have a blast. You owe it to yourself.

So be it!!!