Before Your Last Breath; Fulfilling Your Purpose

Life is a mystery and no one person knows when their last minute will be here on earth. Again, as the quote goes, “It is not death that we should fear, but we should fear never beginning to live”. This quote tells of what exactly the greatest loss is. While we all fear death and no one would ever entertain the though of their own death, we are reminded that our last minutes here on earth are either full of smiles for the life we lived, or full or regrets for the things we never did while we had the breath. This takes me back to several stories I have heard of conversations on the deathbed where prominent persons, though in the eyes of the outside world they had achieved a lot, regretted to have not lived their purpose. Some wished they had spent more time with their families, others regretted to have not done what was truly fulfilling to their purpose. And as they take their final bow, the question that is left in our minds is, “how will be our last breath?" Will it be one full of regrets or one full of satisfaction and fulfilment?

What this calls for is both moments of introspection and retrospection regarding our purpose. Each of us has a purpose in this life and it is this purpose that truly judges us on our last minutes of our lives. Introspection helps us to look inwardly within ourselves and so to understand our purpose and who exactly we were meant to be. It helps us to know who exactly we are and our why exactly we exist. This way, we become more aware of ourselves and who we are and so we can align with our purpose. Retrospection helps us to look back and assess whether we have been living our purpose ~ whether our past actions and decisions match with our purpose. Through retrospection, we know where to correct, what to keep doing and where to divert. If our past actions are in line with our purpose, then we keep on doing them. If not, we take the responsibility and change what ought to be changed to align with our purpose.

To the young people, as you start life and have more control of your life, always remember that you have a purpose which only you is meant to fulfil. No other person will ever live your purpose in this life; not even your loving parents or your sweet partner – ONLY YOU. Most of us are sometimes influenced by parents, loved ones, friendly and even by the society to live the life that pleases them and not the one that truly fulfils our purpose. So many are the times that we are held hostage by “what will people say”, and as a result we are lost and forget what our purpose is. We end up not living our purpose and our lives. We live a lie and a life that pleases others but never fulfilling to ourselves. What a great loss. In this case, we die before we truly start living. For can we truly say that we lived when all we did is live other people’s expectations and forgot our purpose? NO!

Just a polite reminder, time is ticking and for each minute that passes, we are close to our deathbed. I hope that the last breath will be full of satisfaction and fulfilment instead of regrets. LIVE YOUR PURPOSE!