favorites

if we're friends (and not just the facebook kind--though that is great, too), i'm sure at some point or another i've subjected you to conversations incorporating some of my favorite things. my favorite book (the overspent american), my other favorite book (bobos in paradise), my favorite blog (positively present), my favorite international aid blog (good intentions are not enough), my favorite coffee shop (bollos), my favorite brand of

tofu (twin oaks). okay, you get the point. apparently i feel the need to spread the propaganda, or, as i choose to see it, share the love. sorry peeps, this post isn't much different. it's about one of my favorite and most life-changing articles i've ever read, regrets of the dying (which you've likely already heard me incorporate into approximately 843 conversations). on account that you don't click on the link (though you really should), here's the summary. a woman who worked in pallative care interviewed her dying patients during the last months of their lives. and when she asked them about their regrets, these were the most common (in order). but first, a random thought--how much wisdom and life lessons do we miss out on living in a culture that does not honor our elders (right, laura b?). okay, the top 5 regrets...

1--i wish i'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. (most people died with half their dreams unfulfilled due to choices they made or did not make).

2--i wish i didn't work so hard (true for all the men interviewed--interesting!)

3--i wish i'd had the courage to express my feelings.

4--i wish i'd stayed in touch with friends.

5--i wish i'd let myself be happier. happiness is a choice.

so, it's the end of the year and people are reflecting on 2011. i, for one, know i am thrilled to say peace out to 2011 and gladly welcome all the newness 2012 offers (even if it includes the end of the world--thank you, mayan calendar). and i know this post really has nothing to do with guatemala specifically--it probably has more to do with being home for a week and being pretty bored. but i guess, in a way, it sort of does. i guess if i had i not read this article a year ago and made a vow to live a life true to myself, i likely wouldn't be headed to guatemala right now. a lot of you have asked if i am scared about all of this and what comes next, post-guatemala. the honest answer is yes, a little. but what i'm more scared about is making decisions based on fear.

about the same time i read regrets of the dying, i also read this in a manifesto from an amazing travel hacker in the art of nonconformity (yes, also a favorite. and yes, almost everything is my favorite). and that statement has sort of become the barometer for my decision-making as of late. and that statement is this. okay, there are two statements: "if you don't want the life other people have, you don't have to jump through

the hoops they set out for you." amen to that! and second, "in 20 years what will i regret more? having done this or having not done this?" so this friday i head out for the DR and onto guatemala from there.

if i don't talk to you before the new year, have a happy one! my wish for all of us is that we'll have the courage to live a life true to ourselves, whatever that looks like.

speaking of favorites, here's a little shout out to two of my favorite families in the burg (and floyd). your girls best not be dating and in high school the next time i see them.