Life is too short…

…to fret, to be angry, to be sad, to hold grudges, and to waste our time on things we’ll regret and people that can’t make us smile. Looking back, I feel like I’ve spent too much of my time on those unhappy moments, and now that I’m 22¹, I’m finally beginning to realize what’s really worth my time and what isn’t. Sure, I still have many years (I hope ) ahead of me, but I want to make the most out of every minute and hour, so that one day when I’m 50 and I look back, I can smile and say “Damn those were some awesome 50 years”.

And it’s not just my age that made me understand this. Just this January my mom was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer. And just before that my uncle was diagnosed and die of stomach cancer, and a close family friend got breast cancer. Now, another close family friend² got diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer. All 4 of these people seemed perfectly fine and healthy before their diagnosis, and none of them were older than 55 when cancer was found, yet here they are now, with their world turned upside down. It just goes to show how fragile and short life is, and if you don’t make the most of it now, you never know when you might lose that opportunity for good.

So I’ve made a promise to myself: to live to the fullest each day, spend time doing things I love, with people that make me smile, and with no regrets. Life is too short for anything else. Error processing request

I still cringe a little everytime at the thought of that, ↩
I’ve been friends with her daughter for 16 years! ↩

written on June 14, 2010 in Life

19 Comments

You might like these posts:

Out of control

Invasion of tweens and teens

In the city of blinding lights

Bienvenido a Miami

Baby, I said you could have whatever you like

http://livitluvit.com LiLu

Thank you for sharing this… it's a reminder we'd all do well to hear. :-)
Pingback: Tweets that mention Life is too short… | Super Girl -- Topsy.com
http://cutenerd.prettyintokyo.com Risa

Life is too short..I'm sorry to hear about your relatives cancer is one of those illnesses that takes over dramatically and it's very sad i've got an uncle fighting cancer now…

it is good to cherish each day and each moment. I'm glad your making this choice now before it's too late ^-^ hope you never have any regrets and have a prosperous happy life
http://wildx.org/ Rilla

Aw no sorry to hear about the conditions. My family & relatives have been cancer-influenced too. My aunty died from breast cancer when I was very little, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer twice and my grandpa recently passed from lung cancer. Definitely a good reminder to us all to live our lives to the fullest everyday.

By the way, I love your site design!
http://essencious.org Krystal

Yeah life is too short. It makes me feel a little uneasy when I think about my age. So many horrible instances around the world these days, just shows how fragile life really is.

Sorry to hear that your friends and relatives have cancer. Remind them to live happily and not let the illness overtake them. It will make them less happy and more ill if they're always sad about it.

Everyone should always cherish each day because you don't know when it's going to end.
http://unspokenwords.org Bonnie

inspiring blog (: its always best to make the most out of every day. i'm sorry to hear about your family members ): we shall cherish everyone, even if theyre not sick!
http://short-stack.net Whitney

blogs like this make me give more effort to do the same.

my grandma just got over her cancer and all her treatments, but i am pretty sure if it hadn't been for her attitude adjustment and her realization of what you just said, she wouldn't have fought as hard as she did.

thank you.
http://intherain.net Trisha

I try not to worry about small things, because sometimes, they just don't matter. Someone bashing you on the internet, a girl at school dissing your sweater – what do those things matter? Who cares?

Yeah, I know a lot of people with cancer or who had it. My grandmother died from colon cancer when my mom was only 18. Then my aunt had lung cancer and my mom almost had skin cancer. There's also a girl at school who got diagnosed with that Hodgkin's disease. You're not alone.
http://blog.muggle-girl.com Jessica

yes, true- i completely agree; life is very short and we never know when its our time to go.

i am only 17, but im the same…when i turn 50 or so, i want to look back and be happy when i remember things from my "youth". :-)

p.s. this goes with my blog, yuna does make an excellent cover girl! she's gorgeous :-)

take care <3
http://www.sutaru.net Sutaru

I totally agree. When I was in the 6th grade, one of my classmates died of Leukemia. In the 8th grade, one of my friends died from being hit by a drunk driver in a semi in her own quiet neighborhood. When I was a senior in high school, one of my classmates, who I'd known since middle school, was also diagnosed and died of leukemia and last year, my grandfather passed away as well. I'm not afraid of dying, but I am afraid of living a life not worth living. That is why, though it is difficult in execution, I try not to waste too much time on the unchangable past and on regret.
http://nineohnine.luminoscity.com Fallon

I absolutely agree. You have seven years on me, but I've been through enough to know that you don't have as much time as thought and you just need to make the most of it. (:

I'm sorry to hear about your family members, I hope for the best for your mom and your friends.
http://nineohnine.luminoscity.com Fallon

Yeah I didn't remember it was coming out until like, Monday. Then I was like OH, OH, OH! Mom go buy tickets! Hahah.
http://www.silent-white.com/ Cat

I'm so sorry to hear about your family and friend being diagnosed with cancer. I totally agree about living life to the fullest. I realized a couple years that I got angered and annoyed too easily and have been improving on it. Life is much happier when you learn to let go and move on!
http://fadedout.com Kim

Oh no…I'm sorry! You're right, don't let any of that get you down too much. If anything, it's an opportunity for you to make your life a good one, and spend as much time as you can with the people dear to you.
http://creative-suites.com Delia

Thank you for reminding us to live life to the fullest. I think most of us — myself included — forget about that. I'm sorry to hear about your loved ones getting diagnosed with cancer. I hope everyone will be okay; my grandfather was diagnosed with Stage III colon cancer earlier this year, too.
http://www.infektia.net Malin

Sorry to hear about your family members And thank you for reminding me of that I need to live my life to the fullest since I've lost about 8 years of my youth to depression.
http://droptheworld.us/ Marvin

That's so true! I'm sorry to hear about your family members, it's so sad to hear. But hopefully they'll get better. I'm happy that cancer does really happen in my family. No one in my family has it, and hopefully it won't happen but we never know what can happen, so I should be prepared for anything. I'm turning 19, and so much has happened in my life and I've been spending a lot of my time thinking negatively and just being angry at the world. It's hard though, sometimes anger just happens. I'd like to say that I have no reason to be mad, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.

But I'll do my best to stay positive and appreciate everything and everyone in my life. Thanks for posting this and reminding us all about life and how we should enjoy it
http://lepetitetfleur.blogspot.com/ Jess

I´m sorry for your mother

you have absolute reason!!! the life is so short and we need to live every second like if to be last…

xox
http://breakthesky.net Manda

I totally and completely agree with you. I recently had my own revelation that was quite similar to yours back in March and I've been striving to make the best of every moment since!