Often, as part of running my business and preparing my newsletter, I will check the calendar for national days that are celebrated. Of course we have Remembrance Day on November 11. Sometimes there are days to bring awareness to important conditions, like “World Diabetes Day” on November 14, or “Caregiver Appreciation Day” on November 13 (not to be confused with “National Caregiver Day” on April 2- but let’s face it- Caregivers deserve at least 2 days in the year!) There are some fun and silly days in November like “National Parfait Day” (who doesn’t like Parfait?) and “Marooned Without a Compass Day”(?) Some overlap, like “World Peace Day” and “Home-made Bread Day” both falling on November 17, but perhaps there is a reason for this? With more home-made bread we will enjoy more peace! But November 2 caught my eye. It is “Write your own Epitaph Day”. It is described as “dedicated to the proposition that a forgettable gravestone is a fate worse than death.”
I once took a business and personal development course where we were given the assignment to write a eulogy. It was to be one that we would like to describe our own future lives, at our own funeral. It was an interesting exercise, as it causes you to think about your legacy, and what you would like remembered about yourself. It can make you think about how you spend your time and energy. No one really wants their eulogy to consist of a list of the Netflix series that they binge watched. We want to live our lives as the best version of ourselves, but sometimes our day-to-day survival mode existence can stop us from sitting back and thinking about what that should look like. Mae West is quoted as finishing the well known tag line You only live once with “but if you do it right, once is enough.” How do we do it right? Being intentional with our lives, we can break out of the rut in which we are stuck – but stress physiology will hinder our “out of the box” thinking. Network care helps us release the chronic stress patterns from our body that limit our resourcefulness. When we are able to let go of the stored tension that has accumulated over time, we have the available energy to create new strategies for our lives. This exercise of writing your eulogy or epitaph is a great way to think about what you would like your life to look like, and then you can make decisions to act on that. It doesn’t have to be done on November 2!
Charles Schulz is famous for his cartoon about Charlie Brown. In one image, we see Charlie Brown echo this sentiment that you only live once. He receives wise counsel from his dog, Snoopy, who replies, “Wrong! We only die once. We live every day!” Let’s choose to live every day to the fullest. This starts with a healthy spine and nervous system!!!