Do It Now, Because...

I am often taken back by how certain people die. We all expect to lead a long life and die of natural causes. But way too often, it doesn't go like that.

Take the shocking case of actress Robyn Bernard. Robyn starred in the TV soap opera "General Hospital" in the 1980s. The sister of actress Crystal Bernard (who played in the TV show "Wings), Robyn started performing early in life, singing gospel songs. Later, she was on TV and appeared in some movies.

But Robyn struggled in life. Like many of us, she was fine on the outside, but not so much on the inside. She took to drinking, and unable to keep her acting career going, Robyn ended up moving in with her father. She was 55 years old when that happened.

According to her friend, Eric Ackerman, it was shortly after that, around 2015, that Robyn seems to have disappeared. In his words "No one knew exactly where she was."

Later, a TV station reported that Robyn was homeless after the mobile home she was living in had burned to the ground.

Then, earlier this year, Robyn was found dead in a field. According to the autopsy, she died of acute alcohol intoxication. Age 64.

How does somebody with fame and success end up dead in a field?

The truth is, we just never know what's really going on with people. And we just never know how they'll end up.

My own father was riding high with a successful farming business. Like us - he had many plans for his life. Until one day, he started to speak garble. Clogged arteries led to strokes that prevented enough blood to reach his brain.

It was downhill from there.

This once proud and intelligent man, sat in a nursing home, unable to speak, until he starved himself to death and died.

The evidence is clear. We need to live right now. To do the things we want to do, go to the places we want to go, see the people we want to see - and perhaps most importantly, say the things we need to say to those we care about.

Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

I get angry when I hear people say they'll pursue their dreams later on, when the moment is "perfect" - which, of course, will never exist.

They'll defend their inaction by saying they don't have enough money. But moving forward often isn't about money. It's more about belief in ourselves. And acting in spite of fear.

We can find a way.

My father took too much time "thinking". And no time in "doing". He waited until it was too late.

There comes a point when we need to stop caring what other people think about us, and our hopes and dreams - and just act.

Who knows what is waiting for us down the road. Especially in this world.

For me, stories like that of Robyn Bernard represent a wake-up call.

To open my eyes and focus on what means the most to me.

How about you?