New Year Question
Question is ‘what to do this year’? Hardly has the new year started, that one realizes it’s already week 7. I was still thinking of looking at last year’s to-do list and updating it and we are in February.
The most memorable articulation in this regard is from the 19th century Danish author and philosopher Soren Kierkegaard: What I really lack is to be clear in my mind what I am to do, not what I am to know, except in so far as a certain knowledge must precede every action. The thing is to understand myself, to see what God really wishes me to do: the thing is to find a truth which is true for me, to find the idea for which I can live and die.
If you have found your truth, you are among the lucky and wise ones, I guess. For you, the year is about continuing to follow your path and executing your actions. And for you and the rest of us, that is just about all of us, to get a perspective on what matters in life, here’s a list to consider. Published recently in The Guardian, it’s by Bronnie Ware, “an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives.”
The top five regrets of the dying are:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t work so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish I had let myself be happier.
It appears that what matters is more about our values and not really what the tangible outcomes are. But accomplishments are accomplishments. So, let’s look back. I have collected, from Wikipedia, a significant achievement each from the year “12” of the past five centuries.
1912: John Dube, Sol Plaatje and others formed the African National Congress.
1812: Citibank was founded.
1712: Thomas Newcomen built the first known working Newcomen steam engine with John Calley to pump water out of mines in the Black Country of England, the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work.
1612: Shah Jahan marries Mumtaz Mahal. Well, not any kind of super achievement, but then the consequence was the monument of love in marble.
1512: Michelangelo completes painting of the Sistine Chapel (12,000 sq ft) which is exhibited to the public for the first time.
Whether we have to find a truth that is true for us, or spend our time aligned with values like courage to express our feelings and staying in touch with friends, or accomplish a stupendous outcome like creating an ANC / Citibank / Sistine Chapel, the question is a good one and still not late: what do we do this year?
Photo courtesy: (Laura - lilauralu)