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Live Like You Were Dying

This post is the eighth in my ten-weekSummer Music Series‘:a collection of articles inspired by some of the songs and music lyrics that inspire me and make me think… Sign up here to make sure you don’t miss any instalments: not only is the series free, but when you sign up you’ll also get a complimentary copy of my Dreamsmith Guide to Creating a Life You Love.  

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A man in his early forties, thinking he had a lot of life before him, gets a diagnosis that stops him on a dime.  He spends most of the next days looking at the x-rays, talking about the options and talking about 'sweet time'.  And when it finally hits him that this might really be the end, this realization turns out to be the catalyst that finally prompts him to actually get out there and start living.

The lyrics to Tim McGraw's Live Like You Were Dying give us a sobering reminder that you never know whether today will be your last.  When you're faced with a terminal diagnosis* like that, it certainly brings into focus the things that are really important.  

But what if we didn't need a wake-up call like that, in order to live every day to the fullest?

What if every morning, we each made the decision to live like we were dying?

Live like you were dying (photo courtesy of 123rf.com)

The reality is that from the day we are born, every one of us is dying.  Some of us are dying faster than others, but all of us - regardless of gender, race, socioeconomic status or any other factor - are headed toward the same ultimate end.  

We will all have the experience of taking our last breath.

Yet the intention of McGraw's song, as is the intention of this post, is not to be morose and to dwell on this particular inevitable, universal experience that comes with being human...

The intention is to remind us to live our lives.  

Like, really live them.

Now, your idea of 'living your life' might not involve skydiving, rocky mountain climbing or spending 2.7 seconds riding a bull named Fu Man Chu, like it did for the guy in McGraw's song, but what would you want to do if you knew you had only a finite amount of time left to live?

What's on your bucket list?  

Find some time today if you can, or this week at least, to ponder that idea - again, not in a morose way, but as an exercise in re-focusing your life and your daily activities on the things that really, in the big picture of your life, are the most important to you.

Don't let your dreams sit on the backburner until it's too late.  Find a way to do (or to take a step towards) something on your bucket list each and every day.  And at the same time, don't just live your life in anticipation of some 'future' bucket list adventure either: hug someone you care about, reach out to a friend, gaze at the stars, savour your food, light a candle, smell the flowers...   

What will you do this week to make sure that you're living like...you're living? :)

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*speaking of terminal diagnoses: one of my favourite doctors and game-changers, Lissa Rankin, is on a mission to heal health care by helping patients and clinicians alike to re-focus on holistic health care rather than solely on 'disease management'.  In her recently-published book, Mind Over Medicine, she shares research about the power that patients and their physicians have by taking this new (and yet ancient) approach to health and healing, and how doing so has measurable influence on health and recovery from all kinds of illness.  If you or someone you love are struggling with health issues, I encourage you to pick up the book as soon as possible.  You can also listen to my interview with Lissa.

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©2023 by Kelly Wagner

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