“Imagine if you will being on your death bed – And standing around your bed – the ghosts of the ideas, the dreams, the abilities, the talents given to you by life.
And that you for whatever reason, you never acted on those ideas, you never pursued that dream, you never used those talents, we never saw your leadership, you never used your voice, you never wrote that book.
And there they are standing around your bed looking at you with large angry eyes saying we came to you, and only you could have given us life! Now we must die with you forever.
The question is – if you die today what ideas, what dreams, what abilities, what talents, what gifts, would die with you?”
– Les Brown
I saw this Les Brown quote again and wanted to share it.
The idea is a little dramatic, but I think there is something real underneath it. We carry around a surprising amount of unfinished stuff: ideas we never tried, conversations we keep avoiding, things we wanted to make, skills we meant to practice, small ways of being that we keep postponing until life feels less busy.
Some of that stuff should die with us. Not every old dream deserves more time. Some dreams belong to an earlier version of you, and it is fine to let them go.
But some things stay alive in the background for a reason. They keep tugging at you. Not loudly, and not always in a way that makes sense to anyone else, but enough that you notice.
That is the useful question for me:
What am I still carrying that I would actually be sad never to give any life to?
Not what would impress people. Not what would make a good story later. Just the thing that would bother me if it stayed forever as a private thought.
Most of the time, the next step is smaller than the dream makes it feel. Write the note. Make the call. Save the idea somewhere you will see it again. Spend twenty minutes on the thing instead of waiting for the perfect season of life to begin.
Maybe nothing big comes from it.
But at least it does not only live and die inside your head.