I don’t think people understand how precious life is.

Until someone is personally affected by losing someone close or coming close to death themselves, we walk through life every day without thinking of the possibility of life being taken away at the drop of a hat.

I’ve struggled with loss of family and friends.

Being diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of seven.

Losing my grandfather and him not knowing who I was because of Alzheimer’s.

Losing two friends in two different Christmas fires.

Losing a friend who drowned while saving someone else from drowning.

Being so depressed that I though the world would be better without me.

All of these things have made me realize how precious my life is and has reminded me to live my life to the fullest. Even though I wanted to die at one point, I remembered that I have so much potential and I would be missing out on so many great opportunities.

With the recent death of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, and the many others on the helicopter that crashed just last week, I’ve been reminded again to live the best life I can. But to live it for myself and no one else.

Social media has been pumping with the news of the crash and people have finally started remembering that life is something that they take for granted. We’ve also all been reminded of our dreams and aspirations of things we want to do before our time comes. It’s just sad that someone in the limelight has to pass or we have to be personally affected to realize we only have one shot.

I think the most important thing to remember in life though is to never leave a conversation or a relationship with someone you care about on a sour note.

Arguments happen, we’ve all been in one before. And if you think that you’re always right, you probably aren’t. Remain open to interpretation and conversations. I hate to say it like this, but when you leave a conversation with someone, you never know if it’ll be the last one.

I often find myself ending conversations with people I love, especially my parents, with an “I love you,” because you never know what could happen. I highlight that I say it to my parents the most because I will never love anyone more than them. The last thing I want to do is leave a conversation with my mom or dad on a bad note and have something bad happen to either one of them or me.

We walk through our average lives with the idea that everything will be okay and “think nothing will go wrong today,” but you don’t know that for certain. I could have died if my brain surgery went wrong. I could have died if I didn’t reach out for help. But the point is, people shouldn’t have to have these drastic events happen to realize how valuable life is.

Eyes have been opened to keep in mind that life isn’t a game. It’s something you should treat with care. You should live life to its fullest potential.

Do what scares you, step outside your comfort zone, generate positivity, and be kind to one another.

You only get one chance at life, so make it count.