I was contemplating what I should blog about. For some reason I thought of the idea that you ask yourself “after your death what do you want to be remembered by?” Then start living your life in a way so you achieve that.
I am having a stress crisis. I am doing too much and I don’t feel like I am doing anything well. When I thought about what do I want to be remembered for I had a sad and funny moment. Yes, I want to be remembered for being super mom – great mom, wife, entrepreneur, community leader and special needs activist.
I then had thoughts of my eulogy: She died from over work and stress; she starved as her TMJ (jaw muscle) was so tight from stress she cold not open her mouth; her thumbs fell off from too much BlackBerry use; the day her BlackBerry died she had such severe withdrawal that she lost it; she ate so much chocolate that it killed her; she could never say “no” so we found her in pieces trying to give parts of herself to so many causes. Half laughing, half petrified that this is my true reality.
Then came the moment of truth – the ideal what I want to be remembered by and the reality that I am living. While trying to achieve the impossible I am clearly putting myself under stress. We all know the answer to the first part – what we want to be remembered for – but the hard part is actually achieving this. Even more so is achieving the desired goal but not at all costs.
As the old Jewish proverb says, If you don’t aspire to great things, you won’t attain small things.
I am going to spend the week leading up to Shavout to come up with my own 10 commandments for living. Metroimmas, what are some of your personal commandments?
Originally published: May 18, 2012