Imagine today was your last day on earth, and you were being asked to write your obituary that the entire world would read- what would your obituary look like? Would it speak of the great friends that you’ve made, the loving family you were leaving behind and/ or crazy adventures that you’ve experienced. Would it tell the story of a survivor, a warrior, a caring friend, or maybe the trials you had to endure to accomplish your many goals? Perhaps it would speak of a horrifying moment that made you the person you are today, or a scary illness that forever changed the direction of your life.
For many, being asked to write their obituary would be a scary and daunting task that they would rather not do. It’s asking a person to reflect on their life and put onto paper what they have accomplished and describe the type of person that they have grown to be. Not a task for the faint of heart. We all have positive and negative attributes that we battle with on a daily basis, as well as embarrassing moments that we wish we could erase. Things we wish we had or had not done, things we have been planning to do for years, but just have never actually put into motion. Thinking of your obituary allows you to reflect on the life that you are currently living and make the necessary changes to live the life you’ve always wanted.
For me, this task was both scary and enlightening. After sitting down and making a list of the things that I have accomplished in life, and a list of things that have guided me to become the person I am today, I decided to go further and expand this thinking by creating an obituary of the person I want to be. Although I can’t change my past decisions or events, I do have the power to create an amazing future for myself.
I began by first deciding what elements in life were most important to me and decided that I wanted my life to revolve around the exploration of different cultures, adventure, happiness, personal growth and challenges. I then moved on to listing the qualities that I’d like to be known for as well as the areas of my life that I wanted to create change in; career, family, financial, activism, travel and fitness. By setting up a list under each of these headings, I was able to put together a plan to achieve the life that I was looking for and focus on how to make these goals come to light.
I believe that positivity attracts positivity, and light attracts light. In a world filled with uncertainty and quite often despair, it is easy to lose sight of our own personal goals, and instead, get caught up in the rat race that dictates exactly how your life should be and what you should be doing. To me, this doesn’t make any sense. Life is a story, each year a new chapter, each day a new sentence, and we should be entitled to write the book of our choosing. Using this obituary concept, I was able to take a deeper look into my existence and create a plan towards a new, refreshing lifestyle.
Want to know if my plan worked? Stay tuned for weekly updates!