STOP EVERYTHING! I want you to think about this one. Here’s the question:
If you had only two days left on this earth, what would you do each day?
Really…STOP…Write it down.
(you are not ill, you are not sad, you accept it’s your time)
OK! I hope you came up with something before you continue to read. If not, please do it now….humor me.
A few years ago this question popped in my head and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I sat down with a pen and paper and decided to write out what my two days would look like. After I had described how the events of a couple of days would unfold I sat back and smiled at how simple those days would be to carry out.
I sent out an email to a lot of my friends (and some of my co-workers) asking them to contemplate the same question. If you had only two days left on this earth, what would you do each day?
The replies that I received from that email were quite intriguing. A couple of people asked me what I was up to. One friend thought I was being morbid and another friend asked me if I knew something that she didn’t –was she dying. A co-worker stopped what she was doing and went into a deep thought process. My introspective query created an influx of responses. I so enjoyed reading what everyone else’s thoughts were. Although each reply was detailed personally, they all replied with a variation of the same answer – spending time with family and friends! Weather this time was shared on the beach, in the back yard, at the house, in a rented hall…the time wished for was with family and friends.
I reflected at how similar all our desires really are. I questioned what we were all waiting for – our last days perhaps.
That year I made some pretty radical changes in my life that allowed me to spend more time with my family and my friends. A couple of weeks later one of my friends called me up and said because of the question I posed to her she planned a special weekend with her mother that lived out-of-town. Another friend confided that she was going to make some plans for an extended family gathering.
Now look at your two-day wish list – tweak it if necessary. Give yourself a time limit and make it happen.
You can learn more about Kimberly here.
Tags: Family, friends, Priority, Quality Time
If I had two days to live, the most important people in my life would be My Children!!
I would write a short biography of my life, and what it meant to me, to have them in my life. I would cook their favorite food, and set down and look at old photo’s of our life together. I would tell them how proud I am of their accompaniments , and how they have fulfilled my life. Go forward and do the best they can with their life, be happy, enjoy and respect each other.
Cry, wail, gnash teeth? I don’t know if I would be fun to be with. Spend every moment with my child and husband, definitley.
I would eat anything and everything I’ve always felt guilty eating (chocolate, cheesecake, etc.). I would tell all of my family and friends just how much they have enriched my life (with details~). I would quit my job. I would write letters to my children — to share with their children. I would smile.
And so why we don’t do these things now? Well, except for the “eat everything I want and quit my job,” I can do all of it now. And I do, to a point. It’s nice to be reminded that we just never know when our time is up. Smile. Laugh. Be present in my own life. That’s what I need to remember to do. Create memories, because after we’re gone, they live on for generations.
Thanks for the reminder, Kim.
I am with Gwen here. It would be like winning the loto only in reverse. I would walk out the door at work and never look back. That would be the first thing I do is quit my job. That is not an option for me to do right now.
I would make sure I would connect with all of my family members and close friends those two days and make sure they know how much I love and care for them. My sister recently lost her son and she said the hardest part was not being able to say goodbye and tell him how much she loved him.
Making several videos would be great also. Taking some pictures.
I am very connected to my family and we email and talk all of the time so that is not something that I need to be concerned about. Taking more pictures and videos is something I need to work on so that my son’s and their children will have things to remember us by.
I absolutely love looking at pictures from the past of my grandparents and other family members that are no longer with us. Brings back a lot of good memories.
I am thinking seriously about it, Kimberly. I really am. Stay tuned.
Wow, I know eating fine choc and steak is in there, but I am thinking. Of course, I would want to see my family too. A friend had a blurb going around about what 3 songs you would want played at your funeral. I never replied but have been thinking about it since, and now this one too. hmmm. I like this, thanks Kimberly.
I definitely would make my husband take those two days off of work, and then I think I’d ask my family what it is they’d like to do (and I would hope those plans would include me!) the first day, and then the second day I would like to spend it at home, surrounded by family and friends, and I definitely would want a pool/volley ball party with all of them, or a family picnic (weather permitting), or at least a ‘game night’. All of us together, having a good time, enjoying each other’s company. Just something we normally do, nothing out-of-the ordinary. And definitely I would like to think up something special to do with my grandchildren, something they would be really excited about, to see those happy little faces. Perfection.
Mary, I like the idea of writing a short biography of your life. Very selfless and something wonderful to pass on.
I very much agree with others here – spending time with family tops the list. I know there would be a shopping trip with my daughter in there.
Yes, eating all my favorite foods is on there too! Exercise – don’t think so!
I would love to travel for one day to some place I had never been before, but I am debating that one because it would take up at least one of the days. Hmm. Maybe I would just use that time instead to reach out to people who I have lost contact with.
I agree spending time with family would be my number 1 priority. Spending time with friends would be important. I would like it to be in a building (not a hotel) where everyone had their own rooms but had all the ammenities of a hotel. Pool , beach, courts. Sorta like a huge family reunion but first class all the way with all activities with in a few yards of building, and of course only the finest food available.
I thunk. I like what Diane says and film it. Family, friends and the finest food.
I have thought about this for awhile. I have been told live each day as if it were my last and I try, but the stress of day to day life seems to intervene.
Here it is ……..
I would surround myself with the people I cherish most. I would go to the nicest place that I have ever been, the sand dunes in Oregon. I would want it to be summer and the weather friendly—the sun smiling down upon us and radiating its heat with the gentle breeze that would blow in off the ocean. We would all laugh out loud, play music, run in the sand , build castles, rent dune buggies, eat great food, have a fire, gaze up at the clear night sky and watch the stars dance,we would make plans to meet again, and sleep on the beach intertwined as one. I would want us together in complete peace and love. Everything said…….. no regrets.