Your Personal Wishes: Does Anyone Know What You Want?
We make decisions every day about how we want to live. We decide where to go, what to do, and how to spend our time. But how often do we consider what should happen if we are suddenly unable to make decisions for ourselves?
An unexpected illness, accident, or hospitalization can change our circumstances without warning. Decisions about medical treatment, personal care, finances, and even our final arrangements may suddenly become the responsibility of someone else.
The question is not simply whether we have made these decisions. It is whether anyone knows what those decisions are.
Insights: What Does It Mean?
Making decisions about our personal wishes is not necessarily about anticipating death. It is recognizing that our circumstances can change unexpectedly. And, are you prepared or have you prepared someone to act on your behalf?
Likewise, a conversation with family members may express our intentions, but it does not always replace the legal or medical documentation necessary to carry them out.
Our wishes may change with age, health, relationships, and personal experience. And as time passes, what seemed appropriate years ago may no longer interest us.
What’s important is decisions left unmade do not necessarily disappear. They may become decisions that someone else may make, and often during a time that is emotionally challenging.
If something unexpected happened tomorrow, would the people closest to you know what you wanted, or would they be left trying to figure it out?
