What would you do if you knew you had 47 Summers left on this planet?
If you had to map out the time you had left. What would you add to the list of things you wanted to accomplish? What would be on your list of things that you wanted to say? How would you treat yourself and others?
I want to make sure I head into the next half of my life with intention and purpose and given that, I’m asking myself some hard questions.
But in order to look forward with intention, you have to look back, and looking back I see a pretty cool human, who was full of love and potential, but so, so under confident in who she was.
But what would I say today to future me? Not in hindsight, but here, right now, today. What would I tell me – to take on for the next half life?
Wear sunscreen.
I’ve just been through a skin cancer scare, and it took the floor out from beneath me. Well and good. I found a lesion on my chest, that grew literally overnight, then didn’t go away. The GP sent me to the plastic surgeon, who removed it on the spot. I cried a lot, and even sobbed my way through the procedure. I thought, this is the way I’m going out.
It was benign.
But I have not forgotten the feeling that it gave me.
I’ve long thought I wasn’t scared of death. And, I’m not. BUT. The one thing that this has taught me, is that I am not here for me. I am here for those who love me. If Im gone, Im gone. It is those who I leave behind that I’m worried about. Leaving my daughter, sons and husband behind are not an option.
We are not here to wait for moments. This is it. this is your life. Every second you are here is what it’s all about. So, slow down.
Enjoy the mundane. Savour the ordinary.
Relish in the gaps and nooks in between the big things. You just may have 47 summers worth of laundry, cooking and driving kids around left, if you’re lucky.
Slow down. Do the thing. Do it with purpose and mindfulness. Be here, and now.
Because it’s all these things that make up a good life. This is it.
And, wear sunscreen, my friend. 🧡
Introvert Mom 
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