Which ones can you relate to now?

I know as health care professionals, we see so many people die, and sometimes we can numb ourselves to how huge the event is in the busyness of the job, and yet at other times, with certain patients, it hits us quite hard.

But let's shine a bit of light on death. Death is the end of a story, the end of life! The end of your chance to do in this world which is finite.

You see the human being at their weakest, all their strength taken away from them, their ego smashed to the floor, facing the inevitable; DEATH. Like a mother whose labor has started, there is no going back or escaping the situation.

There is ONLY ONE WAY to go. There isn't a return flight option.

At that point, the questions that used to go through my mind as a doctor were that I wondered how they lived their life. I wonder if they were happy with the way they lived their story, these short moments that were given to them by God, I wonder if now that they are at the end and leaving, they are satisfied with all they've done.

I wonder if they've reached a place of peace with themselves.

I wonder if they are feeling content as they leave all this behind.

Or are they filled with anxiety and morbidity?

I did a talk on taking care of dying people for doctors in GP training, and as part of that, I discovered these 'Top 5 Regrets of the Dying' that are based on research by a nurse working in a hospice. These are the MOST COMMON regrets that dying people have regardless of religion. (It was the final straw that motivated me to leave GP Training. 😂)

I wonder if you can see yourself in any of them?

Are there any that you were not allowing yourself to do now?

Are you happy to go to your deathbed with one or all of these regrets?

People don't want to talk about death because it's 'morbid' or it makes them sad, but it's a reality we can't escape and a reality we can't predict.

If anyone knew that, then as doctors, we know it too well.

The way I think of it, keeping death at the forefront is my best motivator because I want to build my legacy NOW, I want to live a life I don't regret NOW, and when I reach death, I want to be happy and content with my decisions and choices. I'm sure there will still be some stuff I regret, but at least I can dare to live as much as I can consciously now.

And I wonder what you're like?

Is everything you're doing and saying in alignment with the real you and what YOU want?

If you were to die next week, would you be happy with how you live right now and your choices?

Think about it.

What do you want to be known for?

How do you want to feel?

What would you let go of?

And we all know of books, films, and stories of real people who changed their life once they got a diagnosis, giving them a time of death that was close.

But what if we didn't wait for that and instead chose to live now?

What is buried in your heart, the desires, the dreams, and the ambitions you are NOT allowing yourself to live and fulfill?

How could you allow them RIGHT NOW?

If you knew death was that soon, what BOLD DECISIONS would you make and follow today?

So if you're not already doing it, take this as a cue to go AHEAD and BE BOLD, LIVE FEARLESSLY and LIVE FULLY!

I give you permission.🤪