HOW LOSS HELPED ME REEVALUATE MY LEGACY

Written By: Brianna Laren

I lost two friends recently, and while we all know death is inevitable, it doesn’t lessen the pain of loss. Many of us throw around the cliches “life is too short” or “tomorrow isn’t promised” without truly acknowledging the heaviness those statements carry

We don’t give it deeper thought until death snatches people close to us

My friends’ deaths jerked me out of my comfort zone and shook me from a slumber I didn’t even know I was in, much like when you’re sleep walking I realized I’d been trudging through life, putting things off until tomorrow, the next month, or the month after. I had been stressing over the wrong situations while things that deserved my attention were falling by the wayside.

We all do it. We have this false sense of security that there is a tomorrow for us However, the reality that today might be all I have led me to think about my legacy What do I want to leave behind?

When people discuss legacy, they talk about money, property, land, and investments which is awesome, but there is more to it.

What about the intangibles? I am all for generational wealth, but I also want to leave behind the type of love my greatgreat-great-grandchildren will feel I want to leave behind land, but I also want to leave behind the blueprints for building strong, healthy relationships, overcoming trauma, and healing

My goal is not to just build generational wealth and break generational cycles but to also instill the lessons and provide the tools to maintain them, so it outlives me I decided to be intentional about planting seeds that will be watered and nurtured by future generations They will reap what I am sowing, so I better make sure that I am cognizant of what I am planting and the soil I am planting it in.

Though they didn’t know each other, both of my friends loved hard, poured into other people, and their smiles lit up a room. I can honestly say they left the world a much better place than how they found it When I think of them, I don’t wonder how much money they left their kids; I think of how blessed their friends and family are to have been loved by them I think of all the lives they touched while they were here and the lasting impact, they had on people they’d never even met They left footprints that I’d be proud to follow, which is the legacy I want to leave behind.