The quote that woke me up
Have you ever heard something - a phrase, a passage, maybe even a cheesy motivational quote that lodged itself in your brain and stayed there?
For me, it was:
"One day you’ll be dead."
That’s it. Five small words. But what a wallop they packed.
It was many years ago now. At the time, I was commuting 90 minutes each way to work at a university. I'd drive part of the way and cycle the rest - a journey I complained about constantly. My friends knew not to ask about my commute without expecting a groan about traffic, rain or tired legs.
Then one day, a friend suggested I try podcasts. This was way before podcasts were trendy, back when people still had to explain what a podcast was. He showed me his app and a few of his favourites, and honestly, anything sounded better than just tuning into whatever the radio was churning out.
So I gave it a go.
And oh boy, did I fall down the podcast rabbit hole.
Me pretending to listen to a podcast and take intelligent notes!
Very quickly I became that friend - the one starting every sentence with:
"So I was listening to this podcast…"
True crime was interesting for a bit, but what really got me hooked were the lifestyle ones. Health, fitness, personal development, people’s stories, all that stuff. I loved hearing real people talk about their lives. Messy, beautiful, sometimes chaotic, but always relatable.
And it was on one of those early podcast episodes that I heard someone say:
"One day you’ll be dead."
It hit me harder than anything I’d ever heard. Not in a doom and gloom way. Not in a fear of death way. But in a wake up, you’re alive right now kind of way.
That quote lit a fire in me.
I wrote it on a sticky note and slapped it on my office wall. I pinned it in my phone so I’d see it first thing every day. I let those words soak in, and what they gave me, surprisingly, was peace.
Not because I wanted to die, but because I finally understood that I will. One day, I will be gone. And I don’t want to spend my precious time pretending otherwise. I want to live and really live - all the way to the end.
For me, that means I’m okay with the fact my days are numbered. It means squeezing the juice out of each one. It means smiling on my deathbed (hopefully old, wrinkled, and surrounded by snacks), knowing that I loved hard, tried my best, helped when I could, and spoke up when it mattered.
It means choosing life. Every single day. Because one day you’ll be dead.
That being said, the way we choose to live can leave a listing impact and become how we live on in others. My dad’s no longer here, but he left such a mark on me that when I’m seeking advice I ask myself ‘What would Dad do?’ (I’ve even written about it here).
Death doesn’t have to be scary. It can simply be the closing chapter of a really, really good book.
One day you’ll be dead is my quote. It’s bold. It’s a bit marmite. But it’s stayed with me for years, and it still gets me out of bed with a spark in my heart.
If it resonates with you too, take it, pin it, run with it. Live like you mean it.
And if you’ve got your own smack you in the face quote, I’d love to hear it.
Let’s keep choosing life. While we’ve got it.
If you’re reading this thinking I don’t feel like I’m really living, you’re going through the motions, stuck on autopilot - check out the Elita La Vie Approach. It’s my take on what it actually means to live your best life. No fluff, no toxic positivity, just real, doable stuff that works. It helped me sort my life out when I truly needed it. Maybe it’s exactly what you need too.
