I turned 26 yesterday. I deliberately waited to write this because I am not really a big birthday person. To prove this, I have spent three birthdays in my life where nobody I was with even knew it was my birthday. I am sure there is something psychologically wrong with me. This become all the more evident as I write...

I have always felt that dying on your birthday is one of the greatest achievements one could have - mainly because you really have no control over that and the odds are .273%¹ More on this later.

I once had a girlfriend who turned to me at dinner and said, "tell me something about you that nobody knows." Internally, I rolled my eyes and debated answering: 1.) I once shot a man in a hotel in Paris² or 2.) I always take my mobile into the bathroom with me when I am home alone.³ But I settled for neither and just responded, "you know, I am a pretty open person and there isn't much I don't share with everybody."⁴

Which brings me back to the dying. I have never shared this before, but for some time I have always had four fairly certain feelings about my death.

1. I will die before I am 40⁵
2. I will die in a plane accident
3. I will die while on the toliet⁶
4. There is a specific place on the back of my head that I feel will be penetrated causing my death.

I know. Weird. I told you something was wrong with me. But what if it were all true. What if I died before I was 40 while going to the bathroom on a plane because because something fell and penetrated my skull.

So what does this have to do with 26? Simple. Life is short. How would your life be different if you knew you were going to die by 40? Just because most of us will pass at 70 or 80 really isn't that different.

And while it is true I believe in life after death, it doesn't mean we shouldn't seize the stages of life we find ourselves in like they could be our last.

There is a saying Allen uses often, which is "pray like it all is up to God, and work like it is all up to you, and somewhere in between you'll end up alright." I think a similar statement could be applied to life. "Prepare to live forever, but live like it is your last, and somewhere in between you'll end up alright."