You’re going to die. I’m going to die.  Everyone around us is going to die.

As a culture we don’t really like to talk about death. We prefer to be obesssed with youth, beauty, vitality, wealth, productivity, appearances and technology.

I also don’t talk about death that much because it seems like such a morbid topic, a real “downer.”  

When turning 45 recently, I’ve been thinking about life and death a lot this past week.  I was on a run a few days ago and thought to myself, “I wonder what it’s like to know you’re going to die?”  Then I thought, “Wait a minute, we’re all going to die, we just don’t know when.”

As simple as this thought was, it reminded me once more about the brevity of life.  I don’t live my life all that consciously aware of my own death.  My own thoughts about death often force me to avoid thinking about it altogether.  I do catch myself worrying about dying; sometimes more often than I’d like to admit, especially with our kids being as young as they are.

Contemplating death in a conscious way doesn’t have to freak us out.  Knowing that our human experience is limited and that at some mysterious point in the future our physical body will die is a kick at the right place.

But the best part of talking and thinking about death is this one: It’s a great “wake-up call to action”. It reminds us constantly that time is short and that we must use it in the best possible way.

Did you ever try to calculate how many potential days you have left to live according to the life expectancy?  (male, female, country of origin, hereditary factors.)

Once you figure this number out, re-organize your Top 5 priorities and start working on them ASAP.

Sometimes, our adult responsabilties (kids, career, aging parents) seem to stand in the way of progress. I admit life can be very challenging at times, but somehow, there is always a bit of personal time that we can recuperate if we pay attention. If you put these minutes to good use, eventually they will turn into hours of productive time. Day by day, you will slowly get closer to your dream.