21DJC Day 17 – If The World Came To An End Today, How Would You Feel?
This is Day 17 of the 21-Day Journaling Challenge (21DJC) for Nov 2011. View list of tasks: 21DJC Overview.
Hi everyone – Welcome to Day 17 of 21DJC! 
Yesterday’s question was: “What Makes You Happy?“. (Read the responses.)
Check out some of the things that bring joy to readers at Personal Excellence readers:
“My happiest moments are spending time with my husband and my family, reading, playing the piano, taking pictures and drawing/ painting.” – Kimberly
“My horses, when they’re happily munching away, or they trot up to see me when I come out, or if I’m talking to them and they snort at the right time. Or at work when one of the dogs chases a ball, or a stick, or a leaf, or walks up to me to get petted wiggling so much with excitement that they nearly fall over.” – Laurel
“I am happy when I reach a goal, even when it’s a small one. I am also happy when taking positive action and even before that,when I am making plans and feel pumped about achieving something. And I am so happy and grateful to be alive and have this amazing adventure on the Earth :)))” – Ivona
“What makes me happy? … [It] could be anything. From people to animals, birds, fish, insects, places, memories, art, music, movies, photos, the weather (even if it’s raining), technology, books, magazines, the ocean, the sky, the sun, clouds, aromas, trees, grass, flowers, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, water, puddles, cars, trains, buses, bicycles, planes, and even something as obscure as dog poo on the street, which I will just look at and laugh. The dogs are just doing what needs to be done, so how can that not make anyone happy? :)” – Glenn
“When I feel like I’ve made a difference in someone’s life, then I feel happy.” – Pat Fuller
“Achieving something to me that is not easy.The most vivid and emotional moment for me is when I got my car license, it may be trivial to many people but its the most satisfying experience for me.” – iImprove2
“What I love most about life is that there are so many things to see, explore and learn. We only have so much time and space to expose ourselves to them. Whatever I do, I would like to think that i am learning something from it.” – Viole
“Being independent, supporting myself. Clearing clutter and living simply. Saving money. Random acts of kindness (receiving and performing them). Meditation. Feeling gratitude for all that i have, and dreaming of all the good things to come.”
“What makes me happy? Simple things like: Being with my children, seeing them smile. Feeling loved, feeling that people care about me. Playing with my dogs. Receiving an unexpected gift. Giving someone a gift. Christmas. Reading a book• When I achieve something or reach a goal, even if it a small thing. Walking barefoot on the beach.” – Ish
“Many things make me happy…. Spending time with my family. Finishing a project. Creating extra ordinary designs. Listening Meaningful Hindi Songs. Reading Motivational Stuff. Achieving success. Logging in to Personal Excellence / Forum
Thank you, Kamal (as well as to the rest of you to mentioned that in your responses). 
I’m really happy to know that being at Personal Excellence makes you happy. Guess happiness can be a self-enforcing cycle, aye? 
What makes me happy? Almost everything, really. Some things that make me happy include:
- People smiling.
- Connecting with people.
- Seeing people in love.
- Living my purpose. Helping people grow.
- Pursuing and achieving my goals.
- Gratitude.
- Growing.
- Uncovering my blind spots.
- Kindness.
- Running Personal Excellence.
- Working on upcoming projects for Personal Excellence.
- Seeing you happy.
- Knowing I have positively affected someone’s life as a result of what I do.
- Seeing my parents go about their day-to-day activities.
- Living life.
With that said, let’s now move to today’s question!
21DJC Day 17
Today’s question is:
If The World Came To An End Today, How Would You Feel?
Would you be happy? Would you be sad? Would you be nonchalant? Would you wish for more time with your loved ones? Would you wish for more time to fulfill your goals? Would you wish for another chance at life?
Put on your reflection cap and let your thoughts flow. Below is an empty form which you can use to write your answers to the question. Treat it as your private 21DJC journaling “room”, if you will. You will be seeing this form every day, for the 21 days of the challenge. There’s a button for you to keep track of your word count too, if you’re interested.
(Note you will not see the form below if you’re viewing this in your email client. Visit the actual post online to see the form.)
If The World Came To An End Today, How Would You Feel?
Your Task Today:
- Reflect and answer today’s question. There’s no word limit – whether minimum or maximum. Write as few or as many words as you want. It’s all up to what you want to express!
- Share your answer. After you are done writing, copy and paste your answer in the comments area and post it there.
- Check out other participants’ answers. Other participants will be sharing their answers too, so feel free to read and reply to their answers. This is a group course, so let’s support each other in these 21 days.
If today is the end of the world, I will be sad and wish for more time to be with my wife and kid, and my parents. I’ll use the remaining time spent with them while waiting for the big ending to come.
Reflecting deeper, a hint of happiness arise, due to a hope for a better start somewhere else.
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If the world ended today I would have mixed feeling. I’d be sad not to have more time with my family and more time to do some of the things I still want to do. I’d be hopeful for a forgiving God so that I could spend more time with my family in heaven. I’d feel relief in some ways that the burdens and the sadness that life brings would be gone. I’m not sure I’d be happy, but there would be some positive feelings involved.
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Since I believe that our spirits live on after death, the end of the physical world would not trouble me as much as it would some people, because the things I value the most do not depend on a physical existence. For my loved ones, I believe I would be present among their essence beyond the world’s end. As for goals, I would be ready to scrap them because the next realm would be calling me forward, and my current goals would be moot.
That’s a literal description, but I believe this question can also be taken more metaphorically, am I using my time wisely? I would answer yes. From past negative experiences I’ve learned what really matters to me, how to pick my battles, how to live according to my nature, and when to put someone else’s needs before my own. I am in a very balanced place right now.
However, I hope the world doesn’t end today, because I know probably a lot of people would not be ready to move on, and I wouldn’t want to take that chance away from them.
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I would feel nothing as I would perish together with the world, (hopefully the end would be speedy and unannounced).
Assuming I had some kind of a warning, say the end is 3 hours away I would feel sad for my children not being able to experience more of the beauty of living. Perhaps I would fear the pain of my flesh disintegrating in the process of annihilation? I am pretty fullfilled so would likely not feel panicky that my bucket list is yet largely unchecked.. Besides I do not have bucket list as with the passage of my life and by choice I became a connoisseur of the precious little things, cherished little moments rather than craving monumental events such as safari in Kenya or becoming The X or The Y.
Perhaps I would feel devastated to never again be able experience the scent of a latte or the freshly mowed grass or the crunch of the autumn leaf … or the laughter.. or the summer rain
Yes, probably devastated at the end! I guess..
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Interesting enough, if I was asked this question just a year ago I think my response would be that I would be completely devastated. I wouldn’t be able to experience the comforts of the world or interact with my near and dear. However, I think I have grown (even if it has been a little) over the past year and I feel that I would still be remorseful that the world is ending–but I would think about all the wonderful things it has given me over the years. Being young, I still haven’t experienced as much as I would like to but I think what I have experienced is certainly a lot. I’m grateful for having discovered this journey to personal growth and I do believe that our souls will never die. For that, I’m thankful for taking a soul that is eager to grow, to learn, to fight, to forgive, and to love.
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I am split on my feelings.
On one level I would be relieved because my troubles would be over.
On the other level I would be regretful for not having lived and lived will.
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If the world came to an end today, how would I feel?
For me this would probably depend on the cause of it. If it was something that was to occur naturally and wipe out every living being and plant on the planet (cockroaches included), I believe how I’d feel would Just be something along the lines of “oh well, that sucks”. Of course I’d want more time, but what could you do? The best thing would be to accept what was about to happen and do whatever it took to enjoy that final day as much as possible.
If on the other hand it was something that the human race had caused. And I don’t exactly know how though in a single day. I would just be angry that they could be so stupid at whatever they were doing to wipe out the whole planet. “How could these idiots allow this to happen?” I would be asking myself.
Still it wouldn’t surprise me if humans were responsible, as they’re already destroying the planet as is. Cutting down rainforests for example, just to create crops of grain to feed cattle or to plant palm trees for palm oil. Due to this, many animals and plants are becoming extinct, and why? Soley so that large corporations can profit. I just read a couple of days ago that it takes 50,000 litres of water to produce 1kg of beef. What if that water was given to those living in drought? And these cows consuming all that water also produce methane gases and excrement that do more damage to the Earth’s environment than all methods of transport combined. Electric cars will never be able to compensate for the increased rates of cattle farming.
Apologies for ranting on here a bit here, but when talking about the end of the world, we must realise that with the way things are going at the moment, it could easily become a reality one day. It might not happen in a day, but will eventually happen. As countries with the largest populations such as China begin to consume more dairy products and beef thanks to the influence of Western culture, things can only get worse.
Getting back to the topic of this journal, regardless of what my reaction would be, it would essentially be insignificant in the whole scheme of things!
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Happy that this whole miserable world is coming to the end.
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I would feel sad. I love living my life. I am not ready for life to end. I was just in a minor car accident today. Thankfully, no one was hurt. But, it did shake my feelings of security. I “know” that I will not live forever, yet, somehow I seem to think that death will be a long time from now. I am 62 and I hope to live to 100. So, if the world ended today, I would be sad as I think I have a lot more living to do.
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Hi Pat,
Sorry to hear about your car accident today. I hope everything’s ok!
Love your positive outlook that you have a lot more living to do at 62.
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Glad that the old world is coming to an end. Sad that the sun will no longer shine.
Glad that I don’t have to be bothered about clearing my clutter @ home. Sad that I may not have closures with everyone that I’ve met.
Glad that I’ve lived this life once. Sad that I may be all alone when the world ends.
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If the world came to an end today, I would feel like I missed out on some of the things that would be important to experience in life because I am to concerned about avoiding change and insecurity.
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If the world came to an end today, I would be very scared and sad. I would want to spend my last moments with my husband, family members and my cats. I would hope for someone who might know the answer to save the world, because it is a beautiful place and it would be tragic to see the end of it all.
I would not regret my decisions in life, but I might have regretted working eleven hours today instead of being home. I would be a little disappointed with not being able to move to the new studio I will be managing shortly, which I just got promoted to today. I would be sad that we never got to start a family.
I would make some tea, go through old photos and the scrapbook I made, and reminisce about all the great times we had. I would play my piano, so there would be one last bit of happiness before the end. And I would call every member of my family to say goodbye and tell them I love them.
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There is no escape, nowhere to run and no place to hide. No time for regrets. It will be too late and pointless.
If the end of the world comes today, what I feel is insignificant.
This question reminds me that today, this very minute, and every single day that I live, how I live my life matters. Every little thing that I do matters.
Today is not the end of the world yet
and it’s not too late to live to my highest potential as a human being, from this moment on:-
Be more kind – doesn’t matter whether to family, friends, people I feel negative about, work colleagues, strangers, animals, plants, things …
Let everything that I do and say be guided by love.
Work towards my dream right away and no more excuses.
Live my life every day with purpose and not just exist.
Be happy and treasure every moment with my loved ones and whoever that comes into my life.
On the religious side, make peace with my Maker and do all that I have to do according to my faith on a daily basis.
Make peace with myself on a daily basis.
And, right now, for everybody on this 21DJC, a group hug (before the world ends!)
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Great post! group hug right back at you
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Group hug indeed!!
*hugs* 
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I don’t really like to think of what-ifs too much. Thinking about hypotheticals is something I don’t typically ascribe to regarding how I feel because then it becomes a mind game about second guessing how I would act.
If the world came to an end today, then I would accept it. It is what it is. What I feel isn’t going to stop the world from ending, though if it could, that would be quite interesting.
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It’s kind of weird.
I would just feel a mixture of gladness that it’s all over. And we don’t have to suffer the stupidity that the world is embroiled in.
But at the same time, it’s kind of sad, because a whole lot of us would have missed the point of it; including myself.
It goes on to highlight the fact how little we know what’s precious, when to let go, and what to hold on to. I’m aware that there isn’t a correct answer even half the time.
Looking at some of the posts, I read that some people have found their own rhythm, their own successful patterns of happiness, and most of us would regret a whole world bereft of experiences either for ourselves or for our kids. But then, if the world is to end with a humongous final period, then what else is there to say? There will be no thereafter, no reincarnation onto another world, no carry ons on unfulfilled dreams or potentials, no new worlds to explore.
But why do we there on struggle? Even when we know it’s all going to be over?
For me, at least, there is only one answer.
I still like the sound of rain.
…And the fact that I’ve chosen to love.
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