Warning: Objects in the mirror may appear more morbid than they actually are.
I recently lost a friend and fellow speaker to cancer.
Of course, everyone has a different reaction to death. Some may feel angry, frightened, or depressed. But I think everyone faces a sense of their own mortality – that realization that our time on this planet is limited.
When my friend’s passing was imminent, I was sitting on the floor of my closet, keeping my friend company while he changed my bathroom faucets. As I organized my donations to Goodwill and separated my clothing for the cleaners, I noticed a jackpot in my sweater organizer… unworn panties.
I know, it doesn’t sound exciting but I only buy underwear when Victoria’s Secret has their semi-annual clearance, and then I buy enough to last me for a really long time. So much so, that I start out with a few pairs and leave the rest for an undisclosed future date. The realization hit me as I sat on the closet floor waiting for the text that my friend had passed: there may never be a future.
We don’t like to think about our eventual demise. It’s easier to just pretend that we have all of the time in the world… until we don’t. We create our Bucket Lists, tens or hundreds of places to visit, skills to learn, people to meet, things to do, but many of us don’t actively work on them. Or, they become something to tend to once a diagnosis has been given, once we’ve been made aware of the countdown clock.
Why? You know you’re going to die, right? I mean, I don’t think I’m breaking bad news to anyone here. So if we know that it’s eventually coming, why do we put off doing things until we know exactly when it’s coming?
What’s on your Bucket List? And are you doing something every day to check off those boxes? Have you gone skydiving yet? Did you overcome your fear of public speaking? Have you traveled to Costa Rica? Did you pet a penguin? (I will give you one guess whose Bucket List those are from).
I don’t want to die with unworn panties in my closet.
I want to embrace everything that life has to offer… today. Not tomorrow. Not in 10 years. And certainly not when it’s too late.
Benjamin Franklin once said: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Experience all that life has to offer. Don’t wait for a scare to live the life you want.
Wear all the panties.
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