If I knew I were going to die in a month, I'd do these ten things.....
1. Write a book about what I learned in life
"The Everything Guide to Luck" but there's more to come.
Also, "The Everything Guide to Creativity". And maybe some others.
2. Spend more time with family and friends
3. Don't be so hard on myself. Let go of the past. Start over every day.
Every morning when I wake up, pretend it's the first day of my life again, with no regrets about the past and no fears about the future (which are often just projections).
I've been very good at convincing myself that I was a failure in my past and always will be in the future if I don't do X, Y, Z (which is nonsense). It's all BS but it takes a lot of effort to break out of that thinking pattern because it seems so real sometimes.
It's like being trapped in a bad dream where you're running from someone who wants to kill you but you can't seem to run fast enough or find an exit or anything like that. But you have to keep trying until you wake up and realize it wasn't real after all. And even then, for awhile you might still feel scared by nightmares that were once your reality before waking up from them. That's how anxiety feels for me right now. It feels like my brain is still dreaming while my body is awake and moving around during the day while everyone else seems normal and happy or sad or whatever they should be feeling during the day instead of dreaming at night when everyone should be sleeping . All part of getting better though!
4. Spend more time reading books about history, philosophy, spirituality, etc... stuff I always wanted to read but never had time for because I was too busy making money or doing other things people thought would make me successful (like bui
- "The Denial of Death" by Ernest Becker (a psychologist who won a Pulitzer Prize) but which has been described as "the bible" for those interested in psychology AND philosophy (because he talks about both). He wrote this book shortly before he died from cancer at age 60ish (I think). So he knew he was going to die soon when he wrote it and he lived every day fully after that point instead of wasting any days feeling sorry for himself or regretting his past actions or worrying too much about his future actions since he knew there wouldn't be one after his death date was approaching closer and closer each day .
- "Being Mortal" by Atul Gawande , another brilliant writer/doctor who also knows death is coming . He writes about how we treat our elders these days compared with how we used to treat them back when people died at home rather than in hospitals . A must-read for anyone who has aging parents OR will someday have aging parents OR even if you just have kids because they will eventually become elders themselves . Also interesting on how hospitals treat dying patients today versus treating them at home (where most deaths happen anyway) . Some doctors even go out on house calls now! Amazing stuff , particularly given how little we talk about death in our society today compared with 100 years ago when people lived much longer lives and died at home surrounded by loved ones vs dying alone in hospitals surrounded by strangers . There's so much wisdom passed down through generations from those who lived long lives back then
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