Dying to Live

When we are given the diagnosis of a terminal or chronic illness, the first impulse for many of us is to fight the illness so that we can live longer.

What would happen if we turned our attention instead to living better, fuller lives with the time we have left? What would a better, fuller life look like? Bucket lists, i.e. things I want to do or see or have before I “kick the bucket” are popular now in our modern culture and I note with some amusement that even college students have bucket lists. In my opinion, this is not a bad thing. It may look self-indulgent or self-serving, particularly when those lists look like adult versions of “what I want for Christmas” Santa lists, but so what? Whose life are you living, if not your own? Were you put on earth to live someone else’s life? If you answered yes, prepare yourself for an unhappy and probably unhealthy existence.

Choose to live your own life to the best of your ability. Yes, that means taking care of other people at certain stages of life (children, elderly parents, for example) but if you live your best life and set boundaries to protect your own happiness, you will die when your time comes knowing that you lived a good life.

I think that must be our ultimate goal.