Wow, what a busy, rewarding, challenging, and thrilling fall we just had…
We just finished 5 straight weeks of Finishing Well: A Survivor’s Plan of Action classes. One was a three-part series for Crosswinds Church, and the second was a two-part series for Rochester Community Education. In a word, I was completely blown away by the response. Across the two sessions we had 68 people show up of most every persona from young families through retirement age!
What a thrill.
As with every session we run, we heard unique life stories and learned great ways that people have used their Survivor’s Plan of Action. We also learned that we are not alone struggling to capture all that needs to be captured to help a survivor shut down our life engine we’ve spent years perfecting.
Some examples:
Start, Don’t Rewind
One young woman took her plan of action home, and decided that sitting for 10 hours drumming up all her online history and capturing it was too much. Instead, she decided to add 5 seconds to her online interactions so that every website she logged into, every Amazon purchase, she would document in her Plan of Action the site, the password, and if she felt like it, any 2-factor + security questions.
Great idea!
Life is Hard … for All of Us
We heard stories about individuals not really knowing who would be their loved one to hand their plan of action to. We heard of families that have been damaged from wills that did not seem fair. It reminded us that we are ALL in this together, and if we care for another, if we love those around us, if we are simply kind to one another, then that’s when we really start living well.
We All Have Questions
For those that have taken the course, you know that we use my wife’s parents as examples quite a bit since we created their plan of action and helped them as they declined and eventually passed.
When we shared our experiences, what we thought were simple questions came out and it was very rewarding for all of us. Questions about who to actually call if you are the one to find a loved one that has passed. Questions about surprising details that I guess we only know about because we experienced them…like “make sure you pre-pay for your funeral food…otherwise your daughter-in-law may end up paying for the whole thing just because she was in the lobby while the service was going on and nobody else was around”.
Finally, the best part was how many people got started on their Survivor’s Plan of Action…or at least started talking about what they know…and don’t know…with their loved one.
And that’s the whole point. To help others in their journey.
How about you? If you’ve taken the class (or used the guidebook), what have you learned that surprised you?