If You Found Out You Were Dying

I saw an anonymous meme on Facebook this weekend that stopped me in my tracks. It said, "If you found out you were dying, would you be nicer, love more, try something new? Well, you are. We all are."

Death is the one guarantee in life, but obviously we don't focus on that. However, when people get a finite answer on their final days, they change. As Tim McGraw's song lyrics say, "I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing, I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Manchu. And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'. And he said, someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dyin'."

We all have that chance. To live each day like it's our last. To put love first. To forgive. To do the things on our "bucket list."

If you want to travel, book the trip. If you want to change careers, check out the programs at college or university. If you want to move to a new city, call the realtor. Just start taking steps, no matter how small. Do what makes your heart sing.

Aristotle once said, "We live in deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths; in feelings, not in figures on a dial. We should count time by heart throbs. He most lives who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best."

And Henry David Thoreau said, "You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment."

The time is now. Don't wait another day to start living.