What if you died right now?

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What if you were to die right now? All of a sudden. The very next moment. Caught without any kind of warning or preparation. Would you be okay with leaving things the way they are? Leaving relations – the good, bad and ugly- the way they are?

What would all those people who knew you, think of you? Would you want to be remembered as the one ‘very good friend who I hadn’t met in months’? Or as the one ‘who I fought with for a stupid reason few days ago but didn’t make up for it immediately thinking there would be a lot of opportunities in the days to come’? Or the one ‘who had a stupid argument with me but my ego was too high to settle the matter there and then’?

Would you be the ‘daughter who lied to me about her whereabouts last night’? Or the ‘son who was drunk and was speeding on the highway with his college friends and didn’t come home’? Or the ‘friend who asked for help and I said I would talk later’? Or the ‘best friend who was too busy with work and didn’t respond to my texts or calls’? Or the ‘teacher who didn’t motivate me at a moment I needed it the most’?

The friend who borrowed a book from you- Would he/she keep thinking that they should have returned the book on time when you asked for it? The friend you promised you would take out to visit a particular place- Would he/she remember you when he/she goes there with somebody who is not you?

What would happen if you died right now? What would you leave behind? The memories, the works? How would people remember you? How did you treat them? How did you make them feel when you were with them?

Would you be missed? If so, for how long? Wouldn’t even your best friends cry for a day and then carry on with their lives the usual way? Wouldn’t you be just a ‘once in a year’ memory that people who knew you might have? Are you absolutely okay to die and be remembered that way? Or would you rather be missed and talked about at every possible moment among your close ones without simply bringing a sense of despair?

Sure you don’t know when you might fall dead. It could be right now, or when you go to bed tonight or may be years later. Until then, why not make a few amends with your life right now so you are ready to accept death when it comes without warning?

What if you try and change a few things for the better? Have fun but with a little discipline. Be busy with work but take a couple of minutes out for the best friend’s call. Have fun with friends and let your folks know that you are fine and they needn’t worry. Be good to people and even if you hate them, make sure they have no reason to hate you back. 

Forgive your enemies and more importantly, forgive your friends for their mistakes. Don't let go of people who you care about. Give another chance to people who matter to you. If someone says you matter to them, do not ever let their statement change. 

Remember people, wish them on occasions, make your presence visible and more importantly, make them understand that they are important to you and they mustn’t forget you. Be important and valuable to your colleagues and bosses, so that when you are not there they feel your absence.

But say you had a few minutes before you were to drop dead, what changes would you want to have enough time for? Call up your close ones and have a last conversation. Talk to the best friend and resolve the fight you had last week. Speak your heart out on a public platform about a matter you have wanted to for some time. Make sure people close to you- family and friends and colleagues- come to your funeral because they loved you or respected you and not as a social obligation.

And lastly, would you be okay with leaving the world without fulfilling the dreams you have been working on? What if you didn’t do that one thing which you had always known you would do ‘sometime in life before I die’?

Probably these big things don’t define life and death for us. Small moments and the choices we make, lead to all the difference. Length of our life is uncertain and death is inevitable. So why be afraid of dying? Why not lead our life in a way such that when death does approach us, we are absolutely ready to accept it?

Take a sheet of paper and write down the things troubling you right now. Things which you would want to be resolved. People you would want to be in good terms with but aren’t right now. Things that you want to do that would make you happy. Crazy adventures that you want to be on. Things that would make sure people respect you and remember you when you die.

And once done with this list, don’t sit staring at this stupid blog entry. Instead, go ahead and start working towards achieving all those goals immediately. It’s okay if you are not able to achieve all of them. At least when you die you would know you did your best with life.