Creepy Confession

So I have a confession to make, one that might appear weird or creepy to some. And is certainly not what people expect of a positive fabulous woman to be doing! Are you ready to hear it? ok here it goes: I enjoy reading obituaries in the newspaper. I find reading about the people who pass on, especially the younger ones, instantly gives me perspective and brings me back to what’s really important in my life. In just a few minutes, I am reminded of how insignificant some of my daily struggles and challenges truly are. So what if I don’t ever catch up with all my email? and what if the laundry waits a couple more days? Is it really critical that I call people back right away? At the end of the day, who really cares…as long as the kids are happy and healthy, and I’m semi-sane. I eventually get the important things done! Right?

This reminds me of one of the most important AHA moments in my life. I attended a funeral several years ago of someone I worked with who died tragically in an accident. The church was filled to capacity and you could sense the loss everyone was feeling. It made me pause and ask myself a question that I’ve asked myself many times since, “when I die, what will people say about me in my eulogy?”.  I knew that they’d say that I was a good person, a loving mother and a loyal friend. Those are all really important things, but I also knew that I wanted to leave a powerful legacy behind that goes beyond my immediate friends and family. It got me thinking, and I started creating my life backwards. If I wanted to be remembered for being  adventurous, passionate and a risk-taker, then why wait to live life that way? It’s not easy creating a life by design, but if you do the work and know who you are, what you want to leave behind and how you’d like to be remembered, it really eliminates much of the fluff and gets you focused on the big stuff. Nothing good comes easy, but oh the rewards can be quite amazing!