Today marks the 10-year-anniversary of 6 Months to Live! What started as a personal 6-month experiment, turned into a life philosophy and hopefully and most importantly, a catalyst for people to go after their own dreams and 6-month experiments.
THERE IS A LOT TO CELEBRATE!
Along the way, the blog received several awards and thanks to many of you reading, turned into a Kickstarter-backed web show! It also inspired me to start a business that has taken me all over the world, was featured in numerous podcasts and even a documentary, two TEDx talks, and has pushed me to dream bigger and to do more than I ever thought possible!
There is no doubt that this experiment completely changed my life. I am so deeply grateful to it and to all of you for joining.
HUGE thanks from me and my Grandmother! <3
How It All Began…
When I started this blog, I had just moved back from living in China for 3 years. I was 26. It was during the 2009 recession, and I felt completely lost. I went from living a very good life in Hangzhou with many friends, good work, and a future, to sitting on my mom’s couch in Atlanta looking for jobs. How did I go from leading a team of 100 at the 2008 Beijing Olympics to living off savings with no prospects in sight? It was a deeply discouraging time.
And then I met author, Teresa Rodriguez Williamson, at a conference in San Francisco. She asked me, “What would you do if you only had 6 months to live?” It got me thinking. What would I do?
Flying a Plane in San Francisco on My 30th Birthday! Thanks Mike!
In honor of the past 10 years, I’ve put together 6 for 6 Months, the greatest lessons (and some photos) I’ve learned from this experiment.
6 Life-Changing Lessons 6 Months Taught Me
- Your darkest moments are often your biggest opportunity. I love the line in Florence + the Machine’s Shake It Out, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” Chinese also have a saying 塞翁失马焉知非福 Sàiwēngshīmǎ yān zhī fēi fú, which essentially means “a blessing in disguise.” It always gets better if you allow it to. The key is to not get so caught up in distress or stress that you miss opportunities to change your fate, like that day with Teresa.
Eze, France
- Ask for help and let people help you. I broke my foot at the beginning of September, and it truly rocked my world for multiple reasons. 10 weeks later, I’m just now starting to walk properly. If I had not a) had amazing friends b) been willing to ask for help c) been willing to receive help, I have no idea how I would have gotten through that first month physically or emotionally. Asking requires vulnerability, but only in opening ourselves up are we truly able to receive and to create the opportunity for someone else to give. No one does it alone.
Dragonboat Race Team, Hangzhou 2019
- Listen to Your Heart. I always say the head speaks in paragraphs, the heart speaks in short sentences. The key is making the time and space to truly listen to your heart’s desires. Every time I have listened to my heart, it has always led me to the right place. It doesn’t mean it’s easy (I mean, you read the part about my Mom’s couch) or hasn’t required sacrifice or going against what my family and friends thought was best for me, but it has always led me to my dreams.
Dancing at a Dear Friend’s Wedding in Seattle
- Travel as Much as Possible. I created my business the way I did, so that I could be anywhere in the world at anytime. In the past 10 years, I have traveled to 18 countries and numerous states. I have literally met thousands of people all over the world, and I continue to take away these simple truths: most people are good, we are more alike than different, and we can learn so much from each other. I know that not everyone has the ability or the desire to travel in the way I have, and that’s completely okay. What matters is going outside your comfort zone to learn about something different — it could be trying a new kind of food, having a conversation with someone from another country, or trying a new experience like flamenco.
Master Your Mission, Italy 2015
- Live each day as if you only had 6 months to live, but live your life as if you had a lifetime to live. When I first started the experiment, I was focused on the big things — traveling to new places, crossing items off the Bucket List, passionately and fervently leaving no stone left unturned. One day my boyfriend at the time asked me, “Jackie. I get the whole live as if you only had 6 months idea, but what if you had a lifetime to live? Slow down and take it all in.” It’s all about balance. I’ve learned to not get so focused on “truly living” that you forget to actually live.
My Sweet Puphew, Forrest
- Be who you truly are. The top regret of the dying is “I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” This lesson has been by far both the most valuable and difficult lesson. I still stand by the words I wrote 10 years ago, “The most courageous act you will ever commit is to simply be yourself.” It’s not easy to go against what those close to you think is the right path for your life, but those I’ve met that are living a life that is true to him/her usually rock it! When you are aligned and in integrity with who you are, magic happens!
Hangzhou TEDx Talk: “Why We Need Dreamers Who Dare to Do”
Moving Forward
It seems fitting that I am writing this from my apartment in Hangzhou, and that many things in the past 10 years have come full circle. It also seems fitting that I started the blog on my Mom’s couch November 11, 2009, but the post wasn’t published until the wee hours of the morning on November 12, 2009. It is now the wee hours November 12, 2019 China time.
My biggest mission in life is to live from my heart, to be in integrity, and to have no regrets.
As Tuck said in Tuck Everlasting “Do not fear death but a life unlived.”
There are so many great quotes about the gift of life. I encourage you to coin your own.
10 years later, I may have more questions than answers, but I will say this: I have loved and lost. I have succeeded and failed. I have dreamed. I have done. I have lived.