Last week I met a fabulous woman who had just been told she was going to die. Cancer doesn’t play fair. Despite being beaten once, it was back. Odette was given 6 months to live and she asked me what I would do?
I had no idea what to say. Fuck. We are told over and over again to live each day like it’s our last and that “you only live once” – it’s become such a cliché that we say it without taking into consideration the harsh truth that the words refer too.
You’re not going to get yesterday back. EVER. You don’t get a second chance at life.
Yet, we continue to take it for granted, enduring the daily grind to make a buck and survive. For what? For the house and the car and all of the other crap society tells us we ‘need’?
What about what we want? Are you doing what you want? Are you happy? If the answer is no, it’s time to make a change. Don’t settle, don’t put up with it. Don’t put the crap that doesn’t make you feel good, before the things that do! You’ve still got time, unlike too many others that have been diagnosed with terminal illness such as cancer. I am not suggesting that you quit your job and become a gypsy (unless of course you want to – by all means, go nuts!), I am only asking that you ask yourself these questions and make sure that you can answer them with a genuine, ‘yes’.
Odette showed me her scars from her previous battle with cancer and she told me a bit about her family and how she came to meet her bestfriend Lou, whom I also had the pleasure of meeting on the night. We talked about boys and growing up and we cried and laughed together. It was such a rare experience, one that I will never forget.
For me, losing a friend to murder, an uncle to cancer and a grandfather to old age and stubbornness in the past year as well as meeting Odette, has only concreted the fact that we are not immortal. It seems obvious, yet we still continue to assign a sense of immortality to ourselves and those around us. We put things off, hesitate or hold back because we feel as though we have all the time in the world. Then reality bites.
Live life with no regrets, take chances, be liberal, make changes, be kind, keep an open mind and let go of the things that no longer serve your purpose. Choose a life that you love and love the life that you choose because after all, you do only live once.
elleonearth 