I've taken a course and one of the assignments was writing a eulogy.
Ugh. That's heavy. And no thank you.
But I did it.
I committed to this course so I was going to complete all of the assignments.
When I sat down staring at the blank page, I couldn't think of what to write.
So instead, I set the timer for 3 minutes, took a big sip of my ice cold water and started writing.
Adding the time restraint allows me to get out of my own way. I didn't have time to stop and re-read what I was writing.
I didn't have time to argue with the critic who normally would critique my language.
Instead, I just wrote.
I sat down and thought about what are all the things I'd want people to say about me. But I also decided to change the assignment wording to "What kind of life would make me proud?"
And there is an amazing amount of clarity to be found in being 47 and writing your own eulogy.
First of all, I gained on what I really consider important. I value being kind, dependable and hopeful. I want to be an inspiration to other women. I want to be charitable.
I know the nice things I want to say - now what?
My eulogy was filled with all the things I want people to be able to say I was.
Today I expanded on those things.
I went back to my junior year in high school in literature class.
When we wrote papers and made statements like, “The main character was honorable” or “The main character was a good friend,” my teacher would underline them in red and write in the margins: What did the character do that proves this point?
So here I am 31 years later asking myself the same question in regards to my own life.
What actions will I do in my life that will prove I truly lived by my values?
Some of these actions/goals might take years to come to fruition. Some of them might never happen.
But this list gives me a wonderful way to guide my future.
These are the things that I want to accomplish to show that I'm living my life based on my values.
How do I go from eulogy to action?
The next step is to use these to write out goals and break these goals down into monthly, weekly and daily tasks. This is how I construct my daily action plans. I don't just list out things to do and check them off. I start with my big goals and I make sure that each day I'm working towards these.
Here's to planning our lives using our eulogy!
