On lifestyles, mine in particular:
"Do you want to experience everything in your life?"
"Yes," I hesitated, thinking the question over in my mind. It's a bad habit of mine; leaping into action before considering the consequences. I was always been a girl of immediacy, instantaneous response. Answer or act first, think later.
"Well, no. I'd like to experience most things. There are some things I think I'd be better off without." I suppose what I meant is that I want to experience the good. I've felt the heartbreaking, the devastating. I don't want to do that again. I know I will; such loss is inevitable in a moral world. But I don't desire it; I desire the new, the thrilling, the exhilarating, the challenging.
"I don't! I don't want to sit there at the end of my life knowing that I've done everything there is to do! I don't want to be left with nothing left to do!" I stared in disbelief at her. When my life is almost over, I want to be able to reminisce about how great it was, not regret all that I didn't do.
We argued about it for a while and were unable to come to an agreement. So I'm posing the question to you, my readers.
Which would you prefer...
sitting at the end of your life, doing nothing but remembering the excitement you've had, or,
sitting at the end of your life, thinking about what you haven't done and the possibility of your still doing it?
Please respond.
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6 comments:
Is this a roundabout way of asking if we're afraid of success? If it's being suggested that people shouldn't strive to do everything they possibly can, I have to disagree. The "end of the road" doesn't exist. I can't see how it's possible for a person to do everything they'd like to, and even if they could, why in the world wouldn't they want to? Life after death is death; why not see it all before you can't see anymore?
Not sure what the question is here, really. Maybe I'm misunderstanding.
I feel like maybe you're reading a bit much into this. More likely I'm just not communicating it well. The question, as I see it, is simple: would you rather be on the verge of death and know that you've done everything on your "to-do list" (for lack of a better term), or would you rather come to the end of your life knowing that there are still some things on your list that you could, if given the time, do?
Does this clarify?
I... guess. This is hypothetical though, unless you've got a really short list. There are things I'd like to do that I know I won't be able to. That's compounded by the fact that I know my goals will change year by year. It's likely by the time I get to that point (assuming I don't get hit by a bus or something) that my to-do list will be completely different and may be absent completely.
There's a list of things I'd like to do before I'd die and ideally I'd complete all that. Inevitably I'll do and feel things not on my list. It doesn't really matter what on these lists (or non-lists) I complete, just as long as I feel fulfilled. I think there are some things on my list that would be fun, but I can feel fulfilled without. What those are changes as I grow so I think at the "end of my life" there will probably still be some optional things.
I'm not sure if that answered the question, but I hope it did...
Question: Is "everything" referring to everything in the world or is "everything" referring to everything on a list?
If it's the world, I guess I've never thought about it because you can't.
Goose-
I loved your answer! It was very well-put. I agree that a list would change and evolve with time; I think that if one felt fulfilled without completing everything on the list, it would be because the list had changed.
To answer your second question, I suppose I meant it in terms of "everything on a list," rather than "everything in the world." The later would, as you said, be impossible.
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