Rule 10: You Will Forget All This

YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS

Relationships

 

One of the quickest ways to reduce stress is to understand your priorities. While accomplishment of goals is satisfying, it is the people along the way and your relationships with them that remain at the end of the day or at the end of a life well­ lived.

The following chart is for you to recognize the people most important in your life. More than any other exercise, this was the one that made people draw in their breath. It would catch in their throats, only to be exhaled on a long outgoing breath.

Using a piece of paper, beginning on the first line, write your name, your age in 2014, your age in 2019, 2024, 2029. Under your name, begin listing the people you love, the ones who are important to you and their ages across the board.

 

DATE:

 

NAME	2014	2019	2024	2029

It is important to do this exercise every six months to one year. As you grow and change, so do your relationships and their importance to you.

Once you have filled out this chart, take a good look. Are you shocked at how fast time flies? You have written down the names of the people most important to you. These could include grand-parents, parents, children, friends, etc.

When was the last time you spent one entire day with them? Talked with them, face to face, with no distractions, no television or stereo in the background? Do you know them anymore? Do they know you? This chart represents a mere 15 year span. Once a certain age is reached, holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, etc., no longer mean just simply the giving and receiving of gifts. It is the gathering of friends and family or the lack of such gathering that holds meaning in our life.

One of the themes of this Workbook is life is not a dress rehearsal. Without knowledge of what and whom you truly value, cherish and care for, the years go by without enrichment and there comes a day when you wake up wondering why you are working so hard for so little. You are urged to take this exercise seriously as there are no guarantees that these people will be there when you finally make the time or they finally make the time for you.