dinsdag 20 juli 2010

Three priorities

Since my doctor told me on July 2rd that my disease will severely affect my life expectancy, I realised I have to rethink my priorities. And not just once; I will have to check and recheck what is really important. It is so easy to get enthousiastic over something, and the next day, you realize it is not really such a big deal.

I immediately understood that I should not fall for what others might think important. "See Naples and then die" is an old saying. I am sure there are a lot of places in the world that many would like to see at least once in their lives, but those things are not so high on my list. Sorry Niagara Falls.

Likewise, if something seems unimportant, but it bothers me that I haven't taken care of it, then it is important to me. I am the only person in the world who can decide what is important to me and what is not.

On Sunday, July 11th, I identified three categories of important things for me; three groups of priorities. Here they are:
Try to stay fit and healthy as long as I can. Try to maintain a healthy sleeping pattern, do the exercises to keep my arms and lungs in shape as good as I can.
Do creative things. Write my opinions in blog posts, write funny and witty tweets on twitter, complete the editing of my videos, correct Wikipedia entries. I find great pleasure in knowing I leave some original ideas behind. Earlier, I called this, leaving my Mona Lisa to the world, as my inheritance. Now, my talents are not quite as big as Leonardo daVinci's, but the idea is the same. I hope I will get the time and energy to do this.
The third priority is to sort out the bits and pieces of financial stuff that must be handled, such as old tax returns. Maybe that is not so important in the great scheme of things, but it would give me a lot of piece of mind if I know all those things have been properly taken care of.

The consequence of these priorities is, that I will spend less time reading and studying. I love to study, but the idea that I will bury my new-gained knowledge in my grave takes the fun of it away. But we'll see.

And if I really want to see a particular film, see a landmark building, visit a restaurant, shake hands with an inspirational politician, do something crazy, well who knows what I'll do. Then, I will not hesitate to ask people to help me.

3 opmerkingen:

  1. You are so right about all of this. No one can dictate to you what is important to you. Though the financial matters don't seem particularly fun or exciting, I understand that you want to have them in order. I think I would feel the same way.

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  2. We would all be wise to define our priorities so simply and definitively. I enjoy your tweets and am glad they made the priority list. Twitter wouldn't be the same without you.

    -Matt Walton

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  3. I am happy to hear that continuing to do creative things is one of your priorities. I have come to know you through blog comments, Flickr, and Twitter and have always enjoyed your online presence.

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