Podcasting Unleashed: "Those who live in the shadow of death are often those who live most." ~ Stephen Hawkings (RIP) I call Bullsh*t. It is romantic. I'll give you that. When you are sitting in your nice warm bed. The candle lit on the nightstand. Your tummy content. Sounds good. You read it. You imagine a scene from James Bond or some exciting movie, where the hero is about to die. They survive. And you think how exhilarating... That's an adrenaline rush. That's not living. I was in a hospital bed for 5 weeks in the summer of 2014. I ate ice cubes most day. I had blood sample taken at 6 fukcin' AM every day (I like to wake up at 10am, thank you very much!) I lost 45 pounds. I was yellow. I was so close to death, they told my mom to start making funeral arrangements. There was no "Living most". There was take one breath, then take another, and don't you dare stop... There is nothing romantic about being in the shadow of Death, feeling her loving gaze as she prepares for that final embrace. Her hug comes for everyone. Everyday, an alarm bell goes off. Rarely do we wake up. Then one day our eyes open and the beliefs we held so close melt away and new visions appear. Or they don't. You can be like my drug addict buddy, Joe, who woke up just a little bit on a rainy February afternoon on Hasting Street in Vancouver walking in his socks, because he traded his new boots for the heroin in his brown paper bag. Twenty years later, in 2017, he walked across Canada raising $531,623 for homeless youth. That's 6,521 km (4,025 miles). One day, you will open your eyes and be asked the question: "Did you live a life worth living?" I hope your answer will be a resounding "YES!!" and "I was nowhere near the Shadow of Death..."