Thousands of people have talked about this. There are country songs about it. It never makes sense to you until you’ve lived through it. You got the diagnosis of cancer and your life flashed before your eyes. You were in a car crash. Your best friend from home died suddenly. Welcome to reality. People die everyday for a bajillion different reasons.
What was my thing? I’ve a bunch so far. I’ve been a first responder at three different head on car accidents. And I’ve brought someone back to life with cpr. This is my life. While I was in insurance, I went to see a client, and her husband had a heart attack right after I walked in the door. (I’m not scary I promise). I ran to the back of the trailer, called 911 and administered CPR to the patient. He came back to us and they had to shock his heart multiple times to keep him alive until he was safely at the hospital. I took his wife there driving much faster than I probably should have on dirt roads. I stayed there with her until her husband was life-flighted to another hospital for specialized care. Then I drove her home so she could catch a ride to the other hospital with her brother in law. He died upon landing at the other hospital. I didn’t find out until the next day.
I tell you this story because it didn’t change my life at the time. I still worked 70 hours a week and barely saw my spouse. I bought into the promise that the career would change my life. In the end, it did change my life. I woke up one day and I’d had enough. It reminded me that life is meant to be lived with the people you care about. No matter how short that period of time is. The couple whose husband had the heart attack were middle aged and had only been married 3 years. They hadn’t found each other until late in life. I am so lucky to have found my person pretty early in my life. Tomorrow he could be gone. Life is tricky and messy and unplanned. It starts and it ends without a lot of warning sometimes.
You have to live for now. Tomorrow you could be in a car accident and die. It could happen at any time. Remember that you are strong and that your life makes a difference in the big scheme of things. So why not do something with your time. I know binge watching tv shows can be awesome and sometimes its all you want to do, but if that was your last day on earth would you be satisfied with the way you spent it?
Call your parents. Tell them you love them. Call your kids. Tell them you love them. Call your friends. Tell them that you care. Make plans with these people. Even if it is to binge watch House of Cards or Game of Thrones or the Big Bang Theory. Be glad that you did it with someone you care about. You never know what will be your last moment. So try not to fight about the little things- though they seem important at the time, love as much as you can, and live like today was your last day. You never know if it is.
Live for now, because you don’t know if tomorrow will come.
Day in Day out,
B
