Sam Hawken, writer-guy

Don't wait.

If there’s one thing you take away from this blog entry, it’s this: don’t wait on the things that matter to you.

About a year and a half ago, I was diagnosed with an aneurysm in my celiac artery. It’s not huge, but any aneurysm is potentially dangerous. Or, in the case of this aneurysm, deadly. If mine ruptures, I’ll die in seconds, and there won’t be a thing I can do about it. It makes you think.

I’m fifty-three years old, and you’d think I’d have packed a lot of living into that time, but being faced with potential instant death makes you reconsider what living is. In my case, I realized I hadn’t lived enough. Sure, I’ve done things, but nowhere near as much as I should have.

So I decided I’m going to Israel. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time but always put off. But in the wake of this discovery, I understood that if I don’t go now, I’ll never go. As a result, next year, I’ll be in Jerusalem. I’ll live with an Israeli family for a month. I can hardly wait.

If you have a lifelong dream and no real reason to keep you from it beyond your innate feelings of hesitation, do yourself a favor and crush that feeling. Step on the inner voice that says but, but, but, and do it. You won’t regret having tried something anywhere near as much as you’ll regret never trying.