The 7 Days Rule

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In life, we want to do a lot of stuffs. A LOT. It doesn't matter what or who we are but wanting more is never an exception to anyone who breathes.

For example, I want to eat right now. And I want to study hard [which always fail]. I also want to spend the weekend watching movies. I want  to go back home and download Korean dramas. I want to finish writing my novel. I want to have dinner with my family just because I miss them but can't really say so due to my high egoistical defensive wall. I want to visit my best friend in Malacca who I really really miss. I want to do this. I want to do that.

Too many things flash through our mind when it comes to what task we should undertake for the moment. Therefore, how do we differentiate between what is necessary and what is not??

I have lived my life trying to figure the shit out.

Until one day, a good friend of mine told me about this book that teaches you to assess your actions based on their consequences. So, every time you are in a dilemma between two tasks, think about the effects the tasks would have on you for the next ten hours, ten weeks and later, ten years.

Heavy heavy stuff. I never got to buy the book but the principles underlying it is worth the try.

Then, a few months later, I was introduced to a new Malaysian friend who currently lives in Sydney. She told me of a documentary she watched a while back on breast cancer patients. One of the patients who allowed the camera to follow her journey in beating the cancer died. She was twenty four.

Twenty four and dying of cancer.

And I am twenty.

Man, the thought of mortality never fails to trigger even the most dormant of my nerve cells!

After lots of thoughts, I then created the '7 DAYS RULE'. So what is this rule about?

Well, quite simple, honestly. Just imagine that you have seven days to live on this planet earth. With that seven days left, what are the stuffs that you really REALLY want to do?

This rule can be suitably applied in any occasions, so to speak. Almost a month ago, a friend to a friend of mine was in a dilemma - she wanted to go home for the holidays but she wanted to study for the test and she had this summer camp going on. She almost decided to skip the trip back home. Me, I disagreed with her.

I asked her, "if you have seven days to live, would you want to spend it studying or seeing your family?"

It was quite an awkward question but the answer is quite obvious. At least it put some priorities into perspective. It's odd considering we could only see what is necessary and what is not whilst thinking of our own mortality/inadequacy of time.

It was funny though. My other friend who heard the rule freaked out, thinking about her own mortality all of sudden. "Right, Ruby, what if I die sooner than I expected??" and she began repeating the shits for a few times. Even saved her sister's phone number into my cellphone should anything untoward happens.

Some people do freak out of the thought, some try to live calmly alongside the idea.

But now we know family is important. I used to have this huge fight with my father about a year ago - I refused to see him, what more talk to him. But one friend of mine whose father suffered from stroke, is bedridden and incapable of talking, advised me to make use of the time I have when my father is still healthy. She cried while saying that.

"Make use of the time, Ruby, before it's too late. Don't be like me who has so many things to say to him but never have the chance to hear his respond, his voice etc etc."

Man, it got me all sentimental in a daughter-ly manner...

So just imagine if you have seven days to live, how would you want to spend it and what would you like to leave to those who matter to you?

Since I am still considerably young, I have not much achievement in life. The only thing I am proud of is my watercolour paintings that no one but me and my friends know of their existence. I'd leave them with my friends, telling them to hand out some of the paintings to my parents [see Abah, I love painting and you never know about it] and of course, my former muses who never got to discover their abilities to trigger my [currently non-existent] artistic flow. Other than that, I'd try to remind all the people I love that I love them.

It's weird, huh. Love comes first when we begin to think about this thing. "I love you, I just want you to know that." Unfortunately, we rarely say the three words when we are completely valid and physically healthy.

BUT of course this rule must not be used as an excuse to delay you from completing your responsibilities. You are certainly not doing that in consideration of your own mortality, but your laziness. Just that, I believe once we have a time limit imposed upon us, we would strive to do the best that we can.


Ruby Jusoh ponders over the fact that she is now a grown woman. Her childhood ceases only to become part of her history. She could never grow smaller. Duh. But that doesn't mean she should stop acting like a child herself. 

Mucho bipolar? Mucho disturbing? Or mucho weird & funny??