When All is Said and Done-

When all is said and done…when our lives are almost over. When our books in life are at its end. How will we feel?

Imagine you are on your deathbed. You are lying in it, with a terminal illness. The question of death isn’t questionable anymore. It’s not an “if”, but a guarantee. You look out the window at the birds as they fight for a leafless branch. The sun shines brightly on your face, masking your whole room with vitamin D.

You think back on your life, on all the different things you’ve accomplished and endured. The suffering you overcame and the fun you had. The sadness of losing loved ones to the bliss of falling in love. You have only a few more days to live, and the hourglass of this life is running out fast.

Imagine with me, if only for this moment…how will you feel? Think about all the things you’ve done in your life and ask yourself: Are you’re honestly living each day with profound value and content?

Are you doing things, or changing your decisions for other people? Maybe for complete strangers? The reality is, for most of us, almost every decision we do is for someone else’s approval in some way, shape or form. We create our own prisons and sit next to the key. If you sit back and honestly consider what you do, you probably are doing it for someone else’s acceptance. We all hold hands on sitting in this dark prison, never feeling the beautiful freedom of simply not caring. Billions will live and die this way. Imagine sitting in that bed thinking back over the countless hours you dedicated to social media, in hopes of somehow becoming higher in status? Or maybe you needed a drop of validation from people you’ll never met. You just wanted to live life bouncing from person to person, hoping that your constant supply of photos/videos will give you as many options and “opportunity” as possible. Will this bring a smile to your face? Would this make you feel content in a life well live?

Are you choosing your pleasures over your morals? Imagine sitting on that deathbed of yours, thinking back to how you chose a “high” over your own deep values. How will this feel? Imagine this feeling for me. Imagine knowing that you never did what you stood for, you never stood up for your own personal rulebook.

Imagine that you never took risks. Risks of commitment…did you pass them up because you were afraid? Or could it be risks of looking foolish… standing alone against that crowd? Maybe it was Risks of not following a career…at the time you might not have succeeded, right? A life filled with comfortable reclining chairs and settling. Swimming in the warm waters of comfort over jumping off the ledges for so much more. How will this feel to you?

Will you be mentally obsessing over all the beautiful places you should have visited? All the places on your bucket list that never was seen in person because you had too many work emails or life drama? Maybe you chose to be comfortable at home. Or maybe you felt the need to work more hours for a big retirement account that will never be spent. Imagine this with me, for this moment.

Will you be sitting in that dark room, looking outside knowing you never loved a stranger? Or that you simply didn’t do it enough? Maybe you will reflect on all the times you should have been awkward, uncomfortable or weird in exchange for someone else’s well-being. Maybe, just maybe… you will feel deep bouts of sadness knowing you chose to be comfortable over helping that individual who needed it.

When all is said and done, when our bodies are wrinkly and old. I ask you; how will you feel?

Jarom