Time for Your 80th Birthday-Speech

Have you ever thought about this particular moment when it is time to reflect on your past eighty years?

I always disliked the concept of “writing your funeral speech” as it is too morbid and does not leave any room for improvement as you would be already dead.

You could also change the “birthday clock” to the next round birthday of yours.

By doing so, you would have even more time to change something about your life if you are not happy with the retrospection or your current plans yet.

In any case, you might want to think about what topics or situations you will cover. They will all have been a part of your life at that moment!

And if you are not a great speaker yet, here are some possible questions or answers that you could use!

Remember, it is your life onto which you are looking back.

#1 An excellent address of welcome

Which persons will you invite to your birthday party? And who will attend your birthday party? Will there be the same people as there would be now?

As you somehow plan your future birthday party, it might be a good idea to reflect on which people you want to meet on your way.

Will, there be a loving partner, and will you have kids or not?

Do you consider inviting your relatives or work colleagues?

Will you bring your dog, your unicorn, or (my favorite) your alpaca to your party?

Keep in mind that during your lifespan of then eighty years, you will have met thousands of people. Depending on your behavior, and beliefs a lot of them would love to attend this birthday party.

How many of them will you have met besides the annual birthday parties? How much time will you have spent with the ones you love the most?

Or is your focus somewhere else? Will you invite your first coworkers, your spiritual leaders, or coaches? Will you ask the clients of your art or profession to attend your party?

You can now already plan who you want to meet and with whom you want to spend the time over the next years.

It might be easier to welcome these beautiful persons on your party if you met them in the meantime and if you have spent time with them.

Will there be famous or inspiring persons? Or will you be well recognized and inspiring? Persons that contributed to your life or that you want to grant forgiveness?

#2 Thankfulness

For what are you thankful at the age of eighty? Are you grateful for a funny life with a lot of laughter?

Let there be stories that you can’t tell because you would have to laugh too much. And I hope there will be a lot of them!

Let your smile be the mirror image of your whole life. A life with situations you are thankful for.

Would you think about your parents and your childhood? Would you be grateful for this time?

What did you learn at this time? What would you like to share that others may learn from it?

What about your love life? Would you be thankful for all the feelings you gathered over your lifespan?

You could begin to speak about your first love, your current partner, or about the development of children or relatives.

Most importantly, would you be thankful for yourself? As you created so many beautiful moments that you can be grateful for.

It is always a nice thing to be grateful for yourself. Be a good example for others as they might have had difficulties to thank themselves.

#3 Big achievements

What would be your most significant achievement? Would you have climbed big mountains or founded a large company?

Would you speak about your former fears before finally pushing through? Would you also tell the others about the small wins and small grins of helping others in need?

Would you have won competitions or prizes in all kinds of fields? Or the first walk of your baby? Or your first job?

Or wouldn’t you love to talk about your personal development story? That you were on your way to enlightenment, and that you always at least tried to be the most significant gift for your surrounding?

Would your family be in this picture of your most significant achievement, or only your career, or your collection of watches, jewelry, art, flats?

It is up to you where you want to lay your focus on! And you can plan the next steps accordingly.

It just needs the courage to live up to your dreams. Otherwise, you will have lived someone other’s dreams.

And that would make another story out of your life: “I never fulfilled my dreams, but I was a loyal worker for XXX’s dream.”

#4 Big fails

Speaking about courage: would you talk about your biggest fails?

For instance, you could talk about not helpful approaches to achieving your goals? Or that you put the focus on the wrong things?

You might know at that moment that the next tangible asset will not make you feel any richer.

If you are not feeling the wealth in yourself, you will probably have lurched your entire life for this feeling and will buy a lot of things on your way.

The same applies to the need for security, love, and hope. It will always start with you and your view of the world.

Would you speak about the courage it took to develop products that, in the end, no customer was interested in?

But you continued, and finally found out that it was never the idea that only you had to like the product, but the customer had to?

By speaking about failures, you sometimes help others to overcome their fears. You can be a great example too, first of all, make a lot of “mistakes.”

I prefer the term feedback instead of mistakes. You might not have liked the feedback to your behavior, as it did not bring you to your goal, but at least you tried it.

You surely will gather a lot of very excellent experiences on your way.

How many people do you know that did never change their behavior and still insists that others should change?

I hope that at the age of eighty, you will look back onto life with a lot of changes, even more feedback, and constant growth.

#5 Love story

I love the ending of “A Beautiful Mind” with the Nobel Prize Ceremony Stockholm in 1994, where Professor John Nash holds a speech about his life.:

“I have always believed in numbers, in equations, and logics that lead to reason, and after a lifetime of such a pursuit, I ask what truly is logic, who decides reason? My quest took me through the physical, metaphysical, the delusional, and back. And I have made the most important discovery of my career — the most important discovery of my life. There is only in the mysterious equations of love that any logic or reasons can be found. I am only HERE because of YOU. You are the reason I am. YOU are ALL my REASONS!”

I wish you that you find a partner that also supports you in that way. And that you will show the same level of compassion, love, and thankfulness as Professor Nash did.

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It is pure magic to find the right partner. Hold on to this person and believe in love. And keep in mind, the only reason to be in a relationship is to make the other one happy.

I hope that you will have as many happy moments as possible in your life together. There must be a reason for other people to be with you on this planet.

And if you want to look back, let there be a lot of fun in your relationships. Time is too expensive to waste it on bad people or not reasonable beliefs.

#6 Moments of pure bliss

As George Carlin brilliantly put it:

“Life won’t be measured by the number of breaths, but by the number of situations that made you breathless.”

How many of these moments have you already had? And how many will be in the years up to your eighties birthday?

It might be a great idea to think of your first romantic kiss, the moment your kids were born, the breakthrough in your career, or when you first started to love yourself.

Or when the beauty of nature caught you off guard. When the sunset was majestic, the waves were plunging onto the beach, or the waterfall covered you in mist.

Or all the times you spend with your relatives when they had their birthdays and shared their experience. Or when you were in in-depth philosophical talks with your friends that the breathing was getting heavier.

I wish that you have more moments in your life that you remember in an instance than by having to think about them.

These moments define your life as well as all the small steps you take every day. You may want to start to write them down or cheer for every single one of them.

#7 Thoughts for the posterity

What will you have learned on your way that is worth sharing with the guests? Will there be a lot of struggle involved in your development?

Or will you tell your friends how they can achieve anything? How can they overcome their fears and visualize and reach their goals?

Will they listen to you if you only talk, or could they see the connection to your actions in your life?

Would you like to give something back to the ones supported you?

What will be your success story?

I think that you have got every possibility to create a life full of wonders; it is up to you to choose this life.

Have you already reached a level of enlightenment that is worth sharing, or will you speak about your former self-criticism that has never helped anyone reach a great goal?

I like that you begin to think about these lines as you are on this planet for one reason only: to enjoy it!