When I heard the news that wild life conservationist Steve Irwin died in a freak accident, I remarked to a friend how sad it was. I enjoyed his programs and, to be extremely frank and shallow, enjoyed looking at his athletic build.
His death sparked a great deal of news and internet talk. I never thought of him as being an international superstar but perhaps the kernel of this mass shock and sadness is the loss of a man who was still young (in his 40s), committed to his work, and evidently quite happy with life.
It's so not fair.
He leaves behind a wife and children. Hours before he was killed apparently by a startled stingway, he was sitting on a boat with a friend sipping tea and talking about how good life was. Hours later he was dead.
If there is anything is be learned from this death, it is that old adage we consider to be old hat: live life each day as if it were your last. This is not to say you should operate as if under a perpetually black cloud; take the adage in a more positive light instead. Look at how you live your life each day and what you focus on. How much do you focus on stupid stuff? Do you even know what stupid stuff exists in your daily life? Okay, what is stupid stuff? These are questions to ask and answer in order to determine what is and is not important.
I recently encouraged a friend to see a doctor and, if he confirmed his case to be severe depression, do something about it. Since we have no idea when our "time" is going to come, doesn't it make more sense to take care of ourselves in such a way that we have the greatest potential to be happy? If the chemicals in the brain are causing us to be miserable, why wait to deal with it? Wait until when? How long?
Note the words in "deadline." None of us know when our "deadline" is coming.
Why wait to be happy or fulfilled?
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