One day it will be your last.

what do you intend to do till then?

Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

We are all going to die.

And the day will come when we all take our final breath.

Will we get to see one last sunrise or sunset? One last full moon?

A time will come when we are no longer surrounded by our favorite person or our loved one's faces, eat our favorite meal, hear and dance to our favorite songs, or take the chances that life has given us.

One day all that will be gone forever, and whether we have a choice in how that ends, we may not know.

Not a very cheerful opening to an email, right?

But sadly, it is true, something we all know but perhaps do not think about often enough.

New Year, New Me

A fresh slate,

A starting point,

The beginning of something new and exciting.

Whether it's the gym, new diets, off the drink for dry Jan, giving up smoking, or starting something fresh and exciting, why is January always the one month people feel is the time to create all these new trends and habits?

Why is the 1st of the month or 1st day of the week to make us think about the choices we make or decisions to start something new? (as he writes what hopes to be a thought-provoking email on a Monday, the irony of it)

I listened to a powerful podcast the other day where Davina McCall spoke of her sister's last seven weeks of life were Davina's favorite seven weeks with her sister.

It reminded me so much of my late father's last few weeks in the hospital, as the weeks filled with some of our most precious memories and laughs.

He, too, had lung cancer, and with diseases like that, the consultants and professionals know the answers and can put a time limit in place.

When admitted initially, I was told my dad had 48 hours, but he was a fighter, and we were lucky to get three weeks filled with friends, family, and long chats together late into the night.

Conversations and words were said that had been avoided or dismissed for years. Freedom in speaking, all the hopes and plans for the future (for sadly, he never knew the full extent or severity of the cancer spread and that he would not be leaving that hospital)

To hear these plans, this new outlook, and this mindset saddened me greatly, and hearing Davina speak of her experience with her sister brought it back to me.

So, what would you do with your last few weeks alive if you were told it would end soon?

Would you stay in that toxic relationship?

Or surround yourself with people who do not make you happy or allow you to be your true self?

Take your family for granted?

Take a risk and see that place you always wanted to see.

Start that new hobby, take that leap of faith, and trust in the process.

Do all the people in your life know how you feel about them?

And how would conversations be had with them if you knew you might not get the chance to see them again?

Things like war may not give a choice on the timing of when a life is to end, but also those sudden deaths or tragic accidents that end lives too soon.

Yet when a doctor tells of an illness, it ignites so many emotions and feelings that the choice of what to do within this limited time frame is on the person.

So here is Dr. Marcus saying we are all going to die. What are you going to do to embrace each day, each conversation, each memory that every day brings us all?

Deep and heavy, I know, but I do not see it as the first email back. It's a continuation of all those previous emails, and its new year has the same message, life is precious.

Please enjoy it all.

Be Happy for yourself.

As always, thanks for reading,

Marcus.