WHY I WROTE MY OWN OBITUARY

WHY I WROTE MY OWN OBITUARY

Yes, you read that correctly, this past weekend I wrote my own obituary. Revealing this, I know how  morbid, creepy, depressing, clinically insane, [insert any other thought here], but I am disclosing this very personal note because there is a definite method to this madness, and something I absolutely MUST share.

 WHY?  Because doing this was one of the most enlightening, powerful experiences I have had.

 If you are seeking to improve your life, every aspect from relationships to career, to achievements, success, happiness,   you name it, I have found this experimental technique to be one of the best action-oriented steps to propel myself forward, change the way I think and feel about life and shockingly relieve stress in a big way.

However, I must confess I didn’t come up with this ground-breaking idea on my own. I was actually searching the internet one night after too many glasses of wine and in my search for ‘controversial topics’ I found an article about how you will ‘Know How to Live when you Know How to Die’.

Now, the majority of this article was  comprised of informing people on how to prepare their lives to leave those behind taken care of etc etc. Yes that was probably an important aspect, BUT one technique struck me for a different reason, it would change how I think and make decisions in my life NOW.

The BEST part was that the article actually offered something action oriented (as much as I love advice, I NEED to know action steps, how to actually take words to reality)! So this technique, while it did seem a little odd, was extremely useful, I did it and would recommend it to you, your sister, you husband – anyone you care about (or perhaps someone you think could use it, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper and les time consuming than therapy)…

Here’s the technique:

Write Your Own Obituary: An obituary is a statement that is published after your death and talks about your contributions to life. If you were to write one now, ask yourself what would it contain?

If the answer is not much, that should tell you something about how you are currently living.

Now if you want to take it a step further, think about your eulogy, what do you want people to say about you? Remember you for? If what comes to mind isn’t what you want, it’s a sign to make some changes.

On the other side, think about what you DO want to be remembered for. What you want people to say about you. What you want to leave behind. What mark can you leave on the world?

I guarantee that at the end of your life, you won’t be thinking about that number on the scale, or if you had one too many cookies, or how you should’ve worked more hours. You will remember the people, the highlights, the relationships.

My Questioning Moment: During this exercise, what immediately came to mind was “hmm- maybe workouts aren’t so important, maybe what I eat should be a non-issue, on my death bed, is it really going to matter?” Upon first glance, the answer is no, but then I thought more about it, because if the answer is no, why do I feel such a weight of importance on my entire life career.

Here’s what I came up with: Life is about how you FEEL on a daily basis, when you FEEL great, you act differently, you think differently, your entire life is different and it affects everything you do.

So how do you feel your best? You need to get into the best head space, and physical condition.I could go on and on about all the positive benefits of exercise, health, fitness, proper nutrition, but that’s not the point of this confession. The point is that writing my own obituary was probably the BEST way to put my life into perspective, to take inventory on what I’m doing, why I’m doing it and what really matters.

So rather than spending that extra hour watching reality TV or surfing the internet after too many glasses of wine this weekend, I challenge you to try this technique. It sounds overwhelming to start, but even if you just take a long walk to think about it, I guarantee you will be better for it. And perhaps you will even find yourself more present and ‘in the moment’. I know I did!

So that’s my spiel, I’d love to hear yours! Come converse with me, leave your comments below or join the facebook discussion on my page: Amanda Russell Workouts. And if you DO decide to try this, tweet me: @arfit.

What’s your opinion on writing your own obituary?

Love,

Amanda