In my short 22 years of life, I've gotten into some horrible car accidents, a skiing accident, a getting-tackled-into-the-shallow-end-of-a-pool-head-first accident, a standing-on-the-bar accident (don't ask)…you name it. I have a bad habit of texting and driving, I’ve engaged in rather risky behavior, and I've put myself in some potentially dangerous situations without even realizing it at the time. Whenever a young soul is taken from us too soon, it always makes me wonder why on Earth I'm still here. Do I have a purpose? Why do I get so lucky? I often imagine my guardian angel watching over me, shaking her head in disbelief, saying “Great, I have to go save this dumbass again.”

If you take a second to step back and really think about it, and excuse my French, you’ve done a lot of dumb shit too. And there are people who lose their lives every day to freak accidents, to unexpected disease, to addiction, and the most unfortunate of all: to careless behavior and that naive, invincible mentality of “It won’t ever happen to me.”

It's too easy to go about our every day lives and choose to feel overwhelmed with all of our priorities and mundane responsibilities instead of feeling blessed with opportunity. It’s too easy to think you’re always going to “get away with it” and be reckless with your safety and your life. It’s too easy to get wrapped up in that failed romantic relationship, or that friend who wronged you, or that family grudge you’re too stubborn to get over. But when we lose somebody special in the blink of an eye, we start to remember that our time is limited. And I hate to break it to you, but you don’t always make it to 105. And you’re not a cat…you don’t get nine lives. You get one, and it can get cut short at any moment.

I don’t mean to be bleak, but I’ve seen too many young people with the biggest hearts and the best souls leave this planet while I’m watching myself and others walk around with an entitled attitude. Waking up and seeing another day isn’t a guarantee, it’s a luxury and a gift. We can choose to treat it as such or choose to go about our days not being able to recognize the beauty all around us.

We can choose to use our days wisely and try to accomplish something great and follow through with that wild dream or crazy idea, or we can mope around and think we can always do that tomorrow or next week or “when the time is right.” Don’t realize what you could’ve done when it’s too late. The time is now, and if you’re not happy, you have all the power to make your life amazing today just because you were given the ability to wake up and take a breath this morning.

Very sadly and unfortunately, I could write a list of the young people that I’ve either had the pleasure of knowing, working with, or just being able to see their smiling faces in the hallway that have had to leave us way too soon. But I’m specifically writing this article in the memory of Marissa Lybarger. Marissa, I hope you know that after the night I first met you at work, I told everybody that I wanted you to be my new best friend. And that means a lot coming from me considering the fact that I’m pretty skeptical and shy around new people, but I knew from day one that your vibes and your positive energy and down-to-Earth personality went unmatched. You touched many lives and left a mark on so many people’s hearts. I’m taking this horrible situation and turning it into an opportunity to remind myself every day to always make life beautiful, smile, and bring good vibes everywhere I go, just like you did. I love you.