What would you do if you suddenly discovered that today was the last day of your life? Say you get to know miraculously as soon as you wake up in the morning that tonight as the clock strikes twelve you would be breathing your last. You’d say why would that happen to me? Well, I’m only suggesting a what if.
A few days back I was browsing through some videos on YouTube and I chanced upon one of Sadhguru’s video about doing this one thing every day that could change your life forever. He speaks about reminding yourself to be aware every hour that you’re alive and feeling grateful for the same. He explains how this simple exercise can change your outlook on life. Do watch the entire video if you haven’t already.
We go about life assuming that life will go on forever the way it is right now. But what if you know that the time frame is short and that too only for a day? So that’s where my initial question propped up from. What if you only had a day to live? What would you want to do in that one day? Find faults with the government? Go fight with the neighbors for being atrociously loud at their house party last night? Scroll through social media and judge everyone on your feed? Nag your family for not loving you enough? Blame your friends for neglecting you? Nah…not really, right?
I ended up making a list of things I’d like to do in that one day and here it is.
- Catch up with the few closest people in my life that I can count on my fingers. Family and friends. Allocate the time I’d spend with them as per their importance in my life and spend short yet quality time with them telling them how they touched my life in their own special ways.
- Call up or write to people who hurt me or I hurt and tell them how it helped me grow in life and that I love them anyway.
- Laugh outrageously over a Joey special episode of Friends with my son. Listen to our favorite music especially (‘Time in a Bottle’ by Jim Croce, ‘Channa Mereya’ and many more) as we drive down the streets to go and have a round of unlimited Panipuris. The sweet-tangy-spicy burst of the flavors of Panipuris is what my life has been like ever since he was born.
- Gang up with my family to make fun of my dad’s absent-mindedness before he forgets how we always did it.
- Ask my mum to make her special Andhra style tomato dal, sweet n sour bitter gourd fry, steaming hot rice topped generously with ghee on it and a huge chunk of fiery Andhra mango pickle on the side, all devoured with my bare hand in finger-licking morsels. Ah, soul food! I have to have those flavors on my taste buds before I go.
- Make a will for the valuables I have. By valuables, I do not mean only wealth and assets. Of course the wealth and assets part will have to be inherited by my kin but that’s a no-brainer. I hoard on a lot of things out of pure sentimental attachment. That would mean going through old greeting cards, gifts, letters, memorabilia, a huge collection of pictures and songs on my cloud and hard drive, artworks, art materials, books, souvenirs, stuffed friends, baubles, shoes, bags, clothes that don’t fit me anymore and also ones that fit me since I won’t live to wear them anymore. I would want each of them to go to the right person who would value them. And most importantly, I’d like to donate my organs before I go. It would be great to know that someone would still be able to live healthily because of my organs.
- Gift all my size – S clothes to my size – XXL friends and insist that they fit into my clothes in my loving memory. While I am at it I intend to indulge in all the cravings of my sweet tooth. Rasgullas, Rasmalai, Malpuas, Rabri, Moong dal halwa, cream soaking waffles, brownies, decadent cheesecakes, and gooey desserts. Dig in all of it. Who knows which Janam I’m going to get to eat them again?
- Watch Anil Kapoor grooving with his hands thrown up in the air to ‘Ay Ji O Ji’ one last time. I’ve never had enough of that to this day. Guess I might end up grooving to it amidst fluffy clouds in the heaven too! How filmy would that be?!
- Pull my brother’s leg just one more time and make him feel guilty for always being loved by my mum for his feigned innocence more than me despite him stealing money to buy Samosas in school!
- Go and tell our neighbor Gujju aunty how much I loved the hot crispy Handwo and Pakoras that she would send us after dinner since we were early eaters and we would still enjoy them on a heavy stomach.
- Visit my art college one last time, absorb the heady scent of turpentine and paints. Spend some quiet nostalgic moments in front of the pond feeding the fish and mindlessly creating ripples in the water with pebbles.
- Tell our domestic help how much her Good Morning Didi greeting and silly wisecracks brightened my days.
- Treat the stray dogs in my locality to an extra-large Pizza loaded with extra cheese and watch them bury their noses in the melting cheese. It would be their cheat day!
- Have one last ice cream with mum. Large scoops, of course!
- Write a line of wisdom for every year since I would not have time for a set of letters to my son for his next hundred years and tell him what exactly he could share with his kids about me and what he couldn’t. Also that he’s not done with me yet. Not that easily. I’ll be watching over him.
- Click that one last selfie with my folks and force a genuine smile out of them that they could later look back at fondly and smile, wondering how I got away with it all!
I just noticed that there’s so much food on my list. You might think I’m a glutton but I swear I only dream about half these foods! So well, I could go on and on with this list but I have to keep it concise since it needs to be doable in a day, right? However, I am sincerely going to try and fit these and the ones that I intend to fit in that one day in the time I still have, hopefully, more than a day. How about you? What are the top-most on your list of to-dos before you go? Let me know in the comments below. Till then, be thankful that you’re still alive and kicking! Live life as though it is your last day. Love and light to all of you.
Ah! That is my kind of list, and would love to do most of those things. And food is always top of my mind for me too. It would hog all the limelight definitely.
I would also like groove to some of my favourite music and write some last lines of gratitude along with spending all my time with my family and furry girls and some with my closest friends.
That is such an incredible list and that video by Sadhguru is an eye opener. Thank you for sharing, Vinodini.
Lovely post. Totally enjoyed reading it. Inspires me want to write one too.
https://natashamusing.com/2018/09/gratitude-for-august-2018-gratitudecircle/
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Thanks, Natasha! Good to know that we share so much in common. Here’s a big hug from one foodie to another! I’d love to read your list if you ever choose to write one.
That’s an excellent list. This has inspired me to journal a similar list for me.
Thank you, Damyanti. I do hope you journal it and if possible share it on your blog for us to read it. 🙂
Lovely list. I loved especially the second one.
Glad you like it, Balaka, thanks. Learning and growing from experiences that hurt us is such a big part of life, isn’t it?
That seems like quite a list for a 24-hour timeframe. However, I suppose you could overlap a few? I like 15…you’re not finished with your son, yet. 😉 Enjoy all that food and music, etc. 👍😊💕
That’s the reason I mentioned in the first point that I’d allocate time to each person as per the level of importance in my life. That’s where the time rationing would help me cover the rest of the activities in a day. I guess I’ll never be done with my son ever…hehehe!
Love the list. I guess I want to do the same things. Best was the one on panipuris. Now I need to eat one.
Thanks, Lata. I hope you do end up writing your list. Hope you grabbed the panipuris!
I know you’d come and haunt me even after you go…. Make that no. 17 😉 but jokes apart I loved reading the list, it was like watching that entire day unfold in front of my eyes!! Muahhh
That goes without saying, Pri! Haunt you, I will, for sure! There’s no way I could fit all the things I’d want to do with you in a day. By the way, no.7 is for you. All my size S clothes will go to you and some more of my friends and you’d be expected to fit into them in my loving memory. 😉
Oh this is such a beautiful post, Vinodini! I love your list. I totally agree that a daily gratitude and mindfulness habit goes a long way towards keeping us aware of the fact that our lives are limited. Why waste it in petty quarrels and grudges? I learnt to let go of a lot of them a long time ago and life has been better ever since.
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Thank you so much, Shy! This is a list that has come right from my heart. Sadhguru’s words were such a powerful reminder. Yeah, I agree, to let things go gives so much peace actually. None of it matters in the end anyway.
Loved this list and nodded my head at many points. Kudos to you for no.2, it’s not a cup of tea for everyone.
I’m glad you like it, Vartika, thanks. As you grow older you only learn from every experience even if it has been hurtful and that helps you grow as a person. I guess it’s more about acceptance that comes with maturity.
Hey, I just realised I had already read this post, which you had mentioned in the comment on my organ donation post. Kudos girl.
Thanks again, Vartika. 🙂
V, not only do we share our birthdays but we share so many other things–our love for pani puri, art, stray dogs, Pizza, ice cream, bags, and baubles and yes, we are both organ donors, too!! In fact, just after reading thentitlw, I too thought of all the things I would do and donating my organs was m one of the first things that came to my mind.
I loved your post and if you so don’t mind am going to write a similar post, to remind myself every day that well, it could very well be my last day, so chill a bit! Today is my posting day, but since morning I haven’t been able to come up with a single topic! Other work too kept me busy. And now, when I read your post, I felt what a great topic it is!! You won’t mind, will you, if I steal your idea?
Love!
Oh yes, we do share a lot of common loves, right? And, I just discovered that we have similar tastes in food too? Yes, yes, please write that post! I’d love to read it. And don’t be silly, of course, I don’t mind. In fact, I’m looking forward to it now.
Wow! You are going to have one busy last day on earth. I love your cheery outlook. As for me, I would rather just hurry it up and wait patiently to board the last express to nowhere. I’ve written about this too…..
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Oh yes, that’s the way I’d like my last day to be, too many things to do but savoring each one as I go. After that, it’s gonna be peaceful up there anyway. 😉 Good to know that you’ve written about it too. It’s indeed an eye-opening exercise.
A list after my own heart, Vinodini! Life is precious and just not worth wasting on things that don’t add value to our lives. It is the “life in our years, not the years in our life”. Love your post. Thanks for a wonderful read! I keep an ongoing list like this and try to check off at least one per day. I’ve found that when we become focused, it is easy to check off more than one.
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Thank you, Vidya. I’m glad you enjoyed reading this post. It does make sense to have an ongoing list to keep striking off things that you intend to do but keep putting off for god knows when. Definitely a must for better focus in life. I’ll give it a try too.
Oh yay for this post- its most gratifying to read and I think must have been equally so writing it. I first read Shilpa’s post and found your mention there. So glad I hopped across here too.
Your list sounds so amazing Vini – food makes the best memories girl and you have that down a pat!
Thanks for writing this post – its something I really needed to read right now in my life. Cheers
Hey, thanks Shalz! It’s been an exhilarating experience putting all these wishes into words. I’m glad you relate to them. I’m a foodie to the core, the only thing being I dream more about food than eat it but as you put it perfectly, food makes the best memories for sure!
Wow…that’s quite a list Vinodinii. Loved the cheerful undertone throughout the post…And how very well sorted out you seem to be. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you, Kalpana. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. I’m hardly sorted, just trying to learn to be sorted. 🙂