I haven’t been very diligent with my “one year” category. To explain it a little, in case you are a new reader to this blog, “one year” is a project that I decided to take on when I heard Marita talk about it in yoga. Marita is my yoga teacher. The “one year” project is when someone decides to live their life as if there is only one year left to live. Priorities shift, and perspectives change. I decided to give it a shot.

Admittedly, living as if there is only one year left to live has proven to be harder than I thought. I am still doing the day-to-day things that I’ve always done, that aren’t of the greatest importance, really. Except I know that these things would benefit my future years to come. Yes, years to come. If I were truly to be living as if I only have one year left, I probably would quit my job, cash out my retirement fund that I’ve been saving up, and just chill for the rest of the year and live out my years travelling with Dave, writing letters and wills, saying sorry to those I may have wronged, giving gratitude and love to those I was angry with. I would probably start getting pregnant right away so that I know I’m giving a beautiful gift back to this world that has been so good to me.

Living “one year” means to breathe life in as fully as possible everyday, to take risks that may not have been taken before, to smile more often and leave a wanted legacy. When I die, I don’t want to be remembered as merely a woman, or even a therapist. I want to be remembered for the intentions that I gave forth. I want to be remembered for the people I love and those who love me in return. I want to live on through their smiles. I want to be remembered for the lives I’ve affected.

It is to live intentionally, without regret, without fear. I am doing that more, but probably not as much as I would like to. Weeks get busy and I find myself already planning for the next day when my head hits the pillow. For the next year, my task is to sleep with grace, sleep with fulfillment. Sleep as if tomorrow will never come.