If You Had One Day Left To Live, How Would You Spend It?

Note: This is a guest post I originally wrote for Kat Maund’s, One Day Series. Check it out, comment, and love on her new blog.

My partner in crime (and life) Kat Maund got her blog back up and running. Being the motivated vixen she is, she’s already hosting a series asking, “If you had one day left to live, how you would you spend it?”

No doubt, a hard question. So on my plane ride headed West to the Bay area this past weekend I contemplated and scribbled down some thoughts on how to answer this infamous question. During some rocky turbulence I started to make headway, this is what I came up with:

• A day isn’t a lot of time. I think answering a month or a year left to live would be easier. I’m up for a challenge, so I broke it down in segments, sort of by hour.
• I would spend the first few hours of my day writing notes and letters of gratitude to all the people that I love  and have been hurt by (no matter where they live). I’m a closure kind of gal and quite literally, life is too short to not appreciate those you love and the ones that I’ve hurt or have hurt me. I look at these letters as a hello, good-bye, thank you, I love you, you’re special to me, always will be. This includes: ex-boyfriends, lost friends, best friends, extended family, people I met once on a train in Europe, etc.
• I would then choose to be home with my family and friends. We would open our best bottle(s) of wine, cook together, reminisce, tell stories and enjoy delicious food.
• Pictures are very important to me – I want to relive my life by going through my photo albums (on and offline). I feel like this helps you appreciate your life, where you’ve been, what you’ve done. In addition, I want to write and remember my successes starting from the very beginning of my life to present day. If I haven’t written a book by then, this can be like my memoir – my contribution.
• Finally, I don’t like to say good-byes in life. I imagine, I want to say “Until next time…” because there are no real good-byes. A challenging life situation no doubt, I want to soak in the happiness instead of the despair. I would spend a few moments alone, forgiving myself of any mistake I felt I made, reflecting on the beauty of my life, the risks I took and finally, feeling at peace.

One last thought it that, I do not want to feel like I need to be pushed to do any of the above things. I hope I infuse my life everyday, leaving nothing unsaid and choosing happiness.

So with that mindset, I will leave you with the questions: What do you want to do today, that you haven’t yet? What are you waiting for?

Photo Credit: Jerry K.