Today’s (totally optional) prompt: What would you do with only 24 hours left to live?
A prompt like this works best when you strip away all pretense and write without any concern or worry about what people think, but I am not sure if I have that in me today.
It is not because I am afraid or particularly concerned about what people will think but rather that I am preoccupied with a long list of things to do.
I wonder about what I would do in this situation. I know what I want to say. I want to give the “noble’ answer about spending time with friends and family, about telling people that I love them and trying to make things better for the people I am going to leave behind.
But would I do that? Would I really go that route or would I be entirely selfish?
Would I go for things that I always wanted to do and try to squeeze all the fun I could out of the day?
I don’t know.
Part of me says I might just take it like any other day. Part of me says I would live the day like any other day and that I would just finish things out the way I always do.
But there is that wild spirit inside of me, the guy with the fire in his belly that loves life and does all that he can to suck the marrow out of each day–I don’t think he would be so restrained.
Part of it is because I have said goodbye to too many friends already. I have stood graveside and wished I had one more chance to ride with the top down along PCH.
Part of me says I’d want one more time in that room, a chance to have one last minute together…
This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…
- Set a timer and write for 5 minutes.
- Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
- Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
- Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post (in the sidebar). .
- Link up your post below.
- Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.
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Gina March 10, 2013 at 8:25 pm
I hear you. I couldn’t really answer it so I didn’t. I knew what the “right” way to answer it would have been but I dont’ know. It gets late in the game to be tying up loose ends with people…if it wasn’t already in the works. Unless this whole 24 hour thing was a big surprise, I’d hope I was already in a good place with those most important to me so that I could call them up or they would already be here, no need to make amends and we could spend the day doing things we both/all would enjoy. Laughing. Relaxing. Being ourselves. Enjoying each other. But I really don’t know what I would do.
Jack March 10, 2013 at 9:47 pm
Hi Gina,
The right answers aren’t any fun and I am not being sarcastic. If those we care most about don’t know, will they ever.
Tracie March 10, 2013 at 4:07 pm
There might be something to the thought of sending it like any other day. I think that shows a real sense of peace and contentment in your life that you would consider it. I wonder at the lack it shows in mine that I did not.
Jack March 10, 2013 at 9:43 pm
Hi Tracie,
I don’t know if I would say it shows contentment in my life or not. It just seems to me like I might want to just be….
There is only so much that can be done and if I haven’t, maybe I won’t. I don’t know if that makes sense or not.
Jules March 10, 2013 at 3:21 pm
It’s interesting. My answer to the prompt was about sharing – feelings, not necessarily my last excessive gorge-fest of a meal.
Now, it occurs to me – after reading your post – that perhaps a lot of that isn’t what I’d really want to do. After all, if those I love don’t know it, then my last 24 hours is a little late to be making up for a lifetime of neglect.
Jack March 10, 2013 at 9:41 pm
Hi Jules,
I think it is really hard to come up with an answer about what we would or wouldn’t do in that situation. We have our ideas, but reality has a way of impacting things, so who knows.
Alissa March 10, 2013 at 10:58 am
I like the idea of being a bit selfish too. Of bringing one last blast of bliss to your llife.
Jack March 10, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Hi Alissa,
People don’t have enough joy in their lives so I advocate finding time for more, always.
Betsy Cross March 10, 2013 at 10:56 am
I’m pretty sure that I’d just sit down and talk to whomever showed up. If nobody did, oh well. There would be an inclination to call people, but if you haven’t let them know how you feel before the last day of your life, then there’s a problem!
Jack March 10, 2013 at 9:31 pm
Hi Betsy,
I like that. Sometimes just sitting and talking does more good and is more enjoyable than a whole mess of things I can think of.
You are right, if the people who matter don’t know how you feel you have a problem.