Living Without Regrets

As some of you know, I enjoy country music! Despite the reputation of more traditional country music lyrics being about love gone bad, and drowning sorrows in beer drinking, I appreciate the more contemporary lyrics that reflect real life.

One of my favorite songs is by Tim McGraw called "Live like you were dying" from 2004. It's about a man in his early 40's who discovers he is dying and how this news changed how he lived the rest of his life. It is an inspiring perspective of how the devastating news prompted the man to start doing things he had put off before he knew he had a limited time to live. Things such as sky diving, rocky mountain climbing, extending forgiveness, "I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter".

What would your life be like by January, 2009 if you decided to begin today to truly "live like you were dying"? How would your day to day life change if you lived each day as if it were your last? Would you treat your loved ones differently? How would you spend your time? When you had an argument with your spouse or one of your kids, would you wait for them to admit they were wrong or would you set your pride aside and make the first move? As Tim McGraw sings would you "become a friend a friend would like to have?"

It can be so easy to take life for granted - that we are going to wake up tomorrow, that "someday" will come to patch up a hurting relationship, that loved ones will always be there to tell them what they mean to us. If we are going to truly "live like we were dying", we need to adapt a mindset of facing the things that tend to hold us back from embracing life and living each day fully. In this way, we would act more on our hopes, and less on our fears.

When I was in the midst of deciding whether to be in my own business full-time, my fears surfaced of whether I would make it. I weighed the risks, did as much planning as I could until ultimately I needed to make a decision. The pivotal point came when a trusted Colleague asked me these questions "If you don't do this, will you regret never having tried and never know whether you could make it, what will you miss out on if you allow your fears to overcome you?" What decision are you facing that you may regret if you allow fear to hold you back from taking action?

Grow outside of your comfort level, live without regrets, and your hopes can be realized!