Almost every time I hear the song “Live Like You Were Dying” from Tim McGraw, I get emotional and tear up (see video below). This song has a special to me for a couple of reasons.
My mother subscribed to National Geographic magazine and dreamed of traveling the world when she retired. The trouble was … as she was getting ready to retire she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After many years of fighting and several bouts, she passed away at the young age of 69. While she lived over 30 years longer than my grandmother, and had a great life, it was cut short.
As a teenager, I came home from school one day just like any other day. My younger brother decided to go over to his friends house until my mother got back from work. Little did I know that he would not come back home again. A tragic accident took him from us at the very young age of 13.
I am grateful for the time I had with my mother and brother. What I have learned from these experiences is we never know when it will be our time to go. We never know when it will be our loved ones time to go.
We should take chances, live our dreams and treat people as if it were the last time you will see them. There is a saying in yoga that death is a great teacher.
I’m still human, but am trying to live most of my days as if I were dying.
Most people have a bucket list … the things they would like to do before they pass on from this world. The trouble is many of us wait until its too late. We think we don’t have the time, we think we don’t have the money.
If this were your last week or month on this earth, would you find the time and money? Would you do those things you have been putting off? Would you treat others with more love and kindness?
One silly thing on my bucket list has been to ride a mechanical bull, so what did I do when I had the opportunity to ride one when I was in Las Vegas last time … I got on the bull. His name might not have been Fumanchu, but I still rode the bull and checked that one off my list.
Grab life by the horns and ride the bull when you get the chance.
If you have things on your bucket list, don’t wait until its too late. Cross them off now, and learn to:
- Love deeper
- Speak sweeter
- Give forgiveness you’ve been denying
- Spend more time with those you love
- Live each day as if it were your last, with no regrets
- Treat each day as a gift, for the present is a gift
So take a couple of minutes to think how you will do things different today, as if it were your last, and I hope you’ll take the chance, to live like you were dying.
LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING – TIM MCGRAW
