There’s this one thing you do every day. You may not know it, but you do. Each day you write a page of the story of your life. In your life you will witness, read, and hear tens of thousands of stories, but the one story that matters most is your story. Your story is your life.
In story craft, writers and story tellers follow a few simple rules. The first rule is story architecture. A well told story is always built on the framework of the 3 Acts: beginning, middle, and end. Similarly, the story of your life is lived in the 3 Acts. The second rule of good story telling is to know the elements of each Act. In the beginning, we are introduced to the character as he/she begins their journey. Act 2 is in fact a journey – a prolonged process of problem solving, learning, and maturity from dragons to be slayed, to damsels to be saved, to sinks to be unclogged. Contained inside each Act there is also a Sub-Act. In these Sub-Acts, characters emerge from their problem-solving task transformed. This is called learning. Some characters among us must repeat the same lessons over and over until they get it, and yet some never do.
While all 3 Acts take their proper place in a story, and while a story must be built in a sequence of the Acts, Act 3 is perhaps the most important of the three. Act 3 is the act of finality. Act 3 is where we find the “reveal” in a story. The true identity of the character, the resolve of the plot of the story, and finally, the memory that character will leave behind.
Well told stories always include a villain. One demon, one monster, and one enemy to be avoided at all costs. That enemy in the story of your life is the enemy of regret. You don’t want to leave the story of your life with any regrets. Many do and we will all have a few no doubt, regret is an avoidable obstacle. While the contemplation of the end of your life might seem a morbid thing to contemplate, it’s actually one of the smartest decisions you can ever make as you write the pages and chapters of your existence.
Below is a list. It’s a kind of “wish list” filled with wishes that were never fulfilled. The list was compiled by a set of interviews with hospice nurses (the angels among us) as they helped those before them complete Act 3 of their lives and move from this earth to their next destination. This is the real deal friend.
The beauty of the list is that it’s really a simple set of instructions. Things you can starting right now to live a life with the version of Act 3 you want, instead of what you get. Read it, think about it, pick the ones that you own, and begin today to take action. Remember: the most important job you have is in your life to write the best story you can and the best way to finish it is without regrets. Here’s to a regret free Act 3…
1. I wish I had had the courage to be myself.
2. I wish I had spent more time with the people I love.
3. I wish I had made spirituality more of a priority.
4. I wish I hadn’t spent so much time working.
5. I wish I had discovered my purpose earlier.
6. I wish I had learned to express my feelings more.
7. I wish I hadn’t spent so much time worrying about things that never happened.
8. I wish I had taken more risks.
9. I wish I had cared less about what other people thought.
10. I wish I had realized earlier that happiness is a choice.
11. I wish I had loved more.
12. I wish I had taken better care of myself.
13. I wish I had been a better spouse.
14. I wish I had paid less attention to other people’s expectations.
15. I wish I had quit my job and found something I really enjoyed doing.
16. I wish I had stayed in touch with old friends.
17. I wish I had spoken my mind more.
18. I wish I hadn’t spent so much time chasing the wrong things.
19. I wish I had had more children.
20. I wish I had touched more lives.
21. I wish I had thought about life’s big questions earlier.
22. I wish I had traveled more.
23. I wish I had lived more in the moment.
24. I wish I had pursued more of my dreams.
Good luck and have a good week.
Joe Still
2024.05.19
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“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
– Lao Tzu