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What Will Your Funeral Be Like?

Your Deathbed Regrets

Have you ever thought about your funeral?  Morbid I know.  But something that might give some deep insight.  As you think about it, who is there?  What do they say?  What would you change?  What regrets do you have?  Have you ever been near someone when they are close to passing away?  It is a profound time when the divider between temporal and eternal becomes thin.  Mortal is about to step into immortality. It causes reflection upon one’s life and causes people to wonder what they would have done differently.  At the end of your life, what will stand the test of time?

Top 10 Life Regrets

1.  I wish I’d lived a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.  I wish I wouldn’t have compared myself to others.

2.  I wish I hadn’t worked so much and wish I made more time for my family.

3.  I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings more. I wish I had allowed myself to love, be loved, and say I love you.

4.  I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5.  I wish I had pursued my dreams and aspirations, persevered and kept going.  I wish I discovered my purpose earlier.

6.  I wish I had saved more money for retirement.

7.  I wish I had taken more risks and taken more chances/traveled more/experienced more cultures.

8.  I wish I would have realized contentment and happiness are a choice.  It’s all about your perspective and attitude.

9.  I wish I had taken better care of myself.  Physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

10.  I wish I had touched more lives and inspired more people.

Sources:  “The Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing” by Bronnie Ware and www.addicted2success.com study of residents in nursing homes.

How do you avoid having these regrets?  How do you live life to the full?  There is a book coming out in April that will address these regrets.  You will be equipped with better time management skills so that you can spend more time with your family and less at work. You will learn all about money and investing and how to budget now so that you will be able to have more money later. You will learn how to build better relationships with those around you and care for people in a deeper way. You will be able to influence more people as a result of reading this book and avoid many of these death bed regrets.  More to come in the future months.

You Were Meant to Change the World

Part of this next stage of the journey is to find out what matters in this life. Don’t spend your life only to look back with regrets later. Take control of who you are today. What matters to you spiritually, emotionally, physically, relationally, and mentally, and how will you give yourself to these things?  Most people want to make a difference.  Most people want to leave this world different than they found it.  If you want to change things, change begins with yourself.  Not many people have a deep life motto of: “I just want to come and pass through this life with a whisper and leave it the exact same as I found it.”

NO.  YOU WANT TO BE A WORLD-CHANGER.

YOU WERE MEANT TO BE A WORLD-CHANGER.

See future posts on how to “adult” with great wisdom and how to change the world.

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Pete Hardesty

Pete Hardesty grew up in Baltimore, MD and graduated from the University of Virginia. Pete then joined the staff of Young Life in 1997 till present. He lives outside of Washington D.C. where he leads the college division of Young Life for the eastern part of the U.S. He loves college students, beach volleyball, and his 2 nieces very much. Likes: His nieces, Ravens football, college people (even though they make him feel old), movies, cigars, Thai food, the Middle East. Dislikes: Country music, tomatoes, shrimp, rice crispy treats, and wet socks. Pete believes because we only get one shot at this life we need to figure out what matters and give ourselves to it. Let’s make it count. If you have a problem with this, he challenges you to meet him behind the dumpster after school to fight.

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