What If You Had Just One More Week To Live?
By Ronny Osorio
In the last weeks I’ve been joining one of my friends to his visits to a hospital for kids with cancer. It’s amazing how you can bright their day by just giving them a smile and by looking at them as what they are, kids, and not as sick people. They’re tired of people who only show pity for them. What they need is people who look at them and instead of show pity, they show love and energy so the kids feel full of life again.
After a couple of visits to the hospital I made myself some questions about how much I value the fact that I’m healthy. Why is he the one who’s gonna die soon and not me? This is a question many of us have thought about after this kind of experiences, but the question I want to focus on is what would you do if you’d have only one more week to live? Probably you have a huge list of things you’d want to do, but when you have such a short time you need to prioritize and choose which things are possible and which are not.
Here are some ideas of what you could do in that week you’ve got left.
Enjoy!
• Spend Time With Your Family.
As I’ve said before, family is our greatest treasure on earth. My family has given me everything I’ve needed through the years and if I were about to die in a week, I’d spend every moment I could with them. Think about how much they would suffer if you died, specially your parents. Nothing hurts a parent more than watching one of their children die before them. Your family has always supported you and even if you don’t get along with them, deep inside your heart you love them as they love you too. Spend time with them and don’t wait until events like this come to your life to value your family.
• Date The One You Love.
It’s interesting how when we’re running out of time is when we have the courage to do things that normally we would be scared of. If you love someone tell that person, because you don’t know when you won’t be able to do it. Tell the one you love how much he or she means to you. It’s a shame that some people wait until moments like this ones to tell what they feel too others. Have your last date with that person and don’t hold anything back. Be sincere and don’t expect that person to love you back or you could end heartbroken. Just tell that person how you feel and expect nothing in return. You’ll feel much better after that and you’ll be proud of yourself for it.
• Visit Your Best Friend.
Best friends are always there for you no matter what. If I were to die soon, I’d go to my best friend’s house and talk with her for hours. Probably we would cry, but no one else would make me feel better than her. I’s possible that we would laugh, cry, argue and then laugh again, because we would try to spend every possible remaining minute together. Take a day from that week and spend it with your best friend. Tell him or her how much you appreciate all the time you’ve spent together and how your spirit will take care of him or her when you leave. Hug your best friend, cherish those last moments with him or her and remember that it’s not a goodbye, but a see you later.
• Make Peace With Your Enemies.
Okay this one is tough, but when you think deeply about it you’ll see that sometimes we hate someone for stupid reasons. I’m not telling you to forgive and forget, because that’s really difficult, mostly when someone has hurt you so bad (physically or emotionally) that you just want that person to disappear and never see him or her again. I know it’s a lot to ask, but try to forgive those people, but not just because you’d die in a week, but because you really want to be in peace with them. Apply this to your life. Think about the motives you have enemies and how you could help to soothe the waters and be in peace. Your enemies don’t have to be your best friends, but at least you should treat them with respect, as they need to do the same with you.
• Write A Personal Letter To Your Closest Friends And Family Members.
This is something they’ll never forget. Write a personal letter the people who’s really close to you. They’ll love it and they’ll save the letter until they die. Just imagine how every year they’ll open it and read everything you wrote specifically for each of them. They’ll cry every time they read it and you’ll always be in their hearts and minds by doing it.