What Would I Do If I Only Had Three Years Left to Live?
Get the big things right! And if you get them right, the rest of your life will fall into place.
This was a question I considered several years ago as I listened to a sportscaster interview a retired hockey player with Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Given that this athlete had an estimated survival rate of 2-5 years,[1] I couldn’t help but hang on to every word he spoke. As I sat and listened to how this disease had ravaged this man’s body, tears formed in my eyes, and I couldn’t help but think of my own mortality.
As a young, healthy male in the prime of my life, pop culture tells me to avoid the topic of death. After all, we’re far removed from the year 1900, when the average American life expectancy was 47. With advancements in modern medicine, we’ve managed to bump this average up to the grand age of 76.[2] Consequently, the conversation about death has become easier and easier to push down the road.
In Living Life Backwards, David Gibson writes, “Death is the one ultimate certainty that we erase from our minds and busy ourselves to avoid facing.”[3] A quick scan of much self-help material and media advertisements reveals a message that says, “Live for the present and think little of the future.” Yes, think about death one day. But not today.
So why is it so important to think about death?
