Live Like You’re Dying

By: Mike French 

In October, I had just returned home from the ARA Convention feeling healthy, strong, and ready for whatever came next. Then, without warning, I got a stomach ache. At first it seemed minor—but within minutes it intensified, growing worse by the moment, until I collapsed onto the floor in excruciating pain. 

My son, Matthew, picked me up, put me in his truck, and rushed me to the emergency room. From there everything moved fast. I was taken straight into surgery, where doctors removed my gallbladder in a three-hour operation. Later, the surgeon told me something that stopped me cold: my condition had become life-threatening, and I was very close to death. If Matthew hadn’t gotten me to the hospital when he did, I wouldn’t have survived. 

Then came the complications. 

I contracted two serious hospital infections that were difficult to treat. One affected my lungs so severely that doctors had to insert a drain tube. I became critically ill and spent nearly a month in and out of the hospital. Today, I’m home, receiving in-home nursing care and continuing my recovery. 

So why am I telling you all of this very personal information? 

Because until this happened, I felt invincible. I traveled often. I attended recycler events alone. I felt fine. Strong. Capable. Independent. Then this happened—and it was a rude awakening. One of my doctors looked me straight in the eye and said, “Mike, you are elderly. And you must start acting your age.” Yikes! I don’t think of myself as old, but at 79, I suppose the calendar doesn’t lie. 

This whole experience reminded me of a song by Tim McGraw called “Live Like You Were Dying.” It tells the story of a man who receives the shocking news that he doesn’t have much time left. Faced with that reality, he chooses to live differently—to live intentionally. 

He says: “I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing. I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu. And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, And I gave forgiveness that I’d been denyin’.” 

Then he says something even more powerful: “Some day I hope you get the chance To live like you were dyin’.” 

Therefore, what would you do if you thought you was dying?  

Here are a few things I thought of when I asked myself that question.   

• I would forgive—completely and without conditions. Not because others necessarily deserve it, but because forgiveness frees the soul that gives it. Old grudges suddenly seem heavy, unnecessary baggage when time feels short. 

• I would write letters—real ones—to people I love and to people who have helped shape my life along the way. I would tell them thank you, I love you, and you mattered more than you know. 

• I would write down my life story as best as I could remember it—the wins and the failures, the lessons learned the hard way, the moments of grace that only make sense looking back. Not to impress anyone, but to leave a trail of truth behind. 

• I would go to that place I’ve always dreamed about but kept postponing. The place I said I’d visit “someday.” Because someday is not a guarantee—it’s an assumption. 

• I would spend less time rushing and more time listening. 

• I would spend less time accumulating and more time appreciating. 

•I would spend less time worrying about what’s next and more time being present with who’s right in front of me. 

Why wait! And somewhere in the middle of all those thoughts came a realization that stopped me cold: Why wait until you think you’re dying to live this way? The truth is, none of us knows how much time we have. The hospital just made that truth impossible to ignore. I didn’t get a countdown clock—I got a wake-up call. I walked out of that experience determined not to waste it. 

So now I am determined to live a little differently.  

I will try to forgive faster. And try to say the important things sooner. I will try to hold plans loosely and people tightly. Because maybe the goal isn’t to live like you’re dying once—maybe the goal is to live like you’ve finally remembered what matters. 

So let me ask you… 

What would you do if you thought you were dying? And more importantly… what’s stopping you from doing some of it today?