Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five interconnected sites.
Florida Orange Groves take years to produce a crop…
Winter’s on the down side. Many places call it Spring Fever, and people go on Spring Break…to celebrate, have fun, to break from life’s burdens…
But in life, Winter is death. And death will come to us all.
And it’s what we do with our remaining years – starting this very day – that will signal our celebration, our break, our victory over burdens.
And it starts with the smallest of changes.
Who’s in?
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Mid Life – like birth, childhood, adolescence, leaving home, getting married, having kids, empty nest, retirement, death – midlife fits in there as one of life’s major milestone categories.
For the sake of argument, of course, not everyone gets married or has kids, but it is the most common way to continue our species.
In life’s stages, when and where did you start to feel old?
For me, it was four major things:
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Some of our favorite vacation memories are things we least expected to happen.
Like what happened last night at this blog, during a casual bedtime conversation.
Or maybe it’s a story from someone you just met, like Joe, at the resort swimming pool where the kids were playing.
Twenty years ago, Joe’s Mom had anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks to live. Joe, now 47, was at her bedside, crying like a baby.
She asked him why he was crying, and he told her he was sad that she was going to die very soon.
She then asked him to stop crying, go for a walk, and then return to her bedside. She insisted that his walk include the halls of the Hospital’s third floor.
When Joe returned, his Mom made him promise to not cry for her anymore. “I’ve had 53 years and a great life.”
His Mom was a very wise woman.
Joe understood this after walking the halls as his mother had instructed.
She knew full well the third floor was the pediatric cancer ward.
Are you ready to die? Most don’t like to think about it. Ever wonder why this is so?
Two weeks ago on a flight to Allentown, Pennsylvania, I asked the woman (70-ish) next to me about death and dying. Long story, but it was neither awkward nor inappropriate.
The woman said she was not afraid of death. She told me “her life story” but added at the end, she was afraid of two things:
While visiting Family in Allentown, I asked some direct questions. The answers were fuzzy, meaning I left with no more insight than when I arrived.
Are you afraid to die?
Why?
Or maybe, why not?
It’s a funny thing that people who are afraid of death could think the people who think about it are fatalistic.
Intriguing thought. One that never crossed my radar screen.
Unil two days ago.
Here’s the deal. We should be talking about death and planning for it the same way we talk about:
You see, the reality is, those things are just like death, they are things humans (with mortgages) go through.
Death is simply another thing on the list, except for one tiny little challenge.
It scares people more than anything (except public speaking).
And I can’t figure out why.
Could be that I’m completely off base on this.
Could be that I’m hitting the bulls eye.
So, let’s review:
Why not face the obvious with the same thoughtfulness any professional person approaches life’s other routine events.
Oh, and you did get the memo right? The only thing you can really plan on is the one about death. All the others could go either way (successfully or unsuccessfully).
Death is the only one we will all successfully accomplish.