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If I Had My Life To Live Over

* I’d try to make more mistakes next time.
* I would relax, I would limber up.
* I would be crazier that I’ve been this trip.
* I know very few things I’d take seriously anymore.
* I would take more chances, I would take more trips.
* I would scale more mountains, I would swim more rivers.
* And I would watch more sunsets.
* I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans.
* I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.

You see… I was one of those people who lived prophylactically and sensibly and sanely, hour after hour and day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it all over again, I’d have many more of them. In fact, I’d try not to have anything else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of my day. I’ve been one of those people who never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had it to do all over again, I’d travel lighter, much lighter than I have. I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and stay that way later in the fall. And I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and catch more gold rings, and greet more people, and pick more flowers, and dance more often….. If I had it to do all over again, But you see, I don’t.

From the Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
By an 82-year-old man dying and accepting death.
Sent by Claudine Fletcher.