The day after Christmas, late at night, I couldn’t fall asleep so naturally, I decided to find pointless things to do on the Internet. A website came up that had questions to get to know yourself better, so I thought I would give it a try. There were one hundred questions ranging from, “What is your favorite ice cream flavor?” to, “In what ways do you hold yourself back?” Each question took a different amount of time to come to a conclusion, and each question made me realize things about myself that I never truly thought about before. As 3 am was approaching and I was starting to doze off, I was about to shut down my laptop until I saw question number sixty-two:
“How do you want to be remembered?”
The automatic first thought that came to my mind, without hesitation, was simply the word, “kind.” Then, as I started to think about this more and more, I was slapped in the face with an epiphany and was immediately wide awake again. As scary as it may be to think about, we never know when we are going to live our last day and take our last breath. That thought, paired with that seven-worded question, sent chills up my spine and brought exuberance to my mind. Of course, we have all heard the saying, “live every day as if it were your last,” however, not nearly as frequently do we hear people telling us to act in such a way that people would not have anything negative to say if we were to die tomorrow.
So often, we get caught up in the pettiness of life. I, too, am guilty of it. We get so anxious about how many likes our Facebook post will get, how good we look on Instagram, and which filter looks best on Snapchat. We judge people based on how much money they have, the kind of car they drive, and the size of the house they live in. We assess people based on their jean size, their tattoo placement, and their hair color. How the hell, as a society, have we succumbed to this being the standard of the important things in life?
Hypothetically, if I were to die tomorrow, how do I want to be remembered? Well, I want to be remembered as kind. I want to be remembered as selfless, positive, and easy to talk to. I want to be the girl that was known for being full of life…every second, of every hour, of every day. When a person thinks of someone who is generous and non-judgmental, I want my name to appear within their minds. I want to be remembered as always smiling, never taking life too seriously, and basking in the moment. I want to be remembered for being unordinary; bursting with flames of passion for things in life that others might consider utterly weird. Being considerate of any and every human that may walk into my life, even if only for a mere second, is how I want to be thought of.
Vibrant, simple, balanced, joyous, brave, accepting, and gentle.
Wild, fierce, intense, emotional, virtuous, genuine, and open.
A number of characteristics attainable are overwhelming in the most satisfying and fulfilling ways possible.
Ask yourself this question and then live by your answer because there are far too many characteristics within a human that triumphs how attractive you are and how much money you have. If someone asks you how you want to be remembered and you reply with, “popular” or “pretty,” oh, how I hope that you open your eyes some day very soon and realize the abundance of life that lives beyond those qualities.
The world is filled with unlimited gratitude and never-ending intrinsic beauty. Never forget what you want your worth to be, and never forget how you want to be remembered.
