I was thinking the other day about how much I miss my grandparents.  I only knew three of them, my mother's father passed away before I was born but the three that I did know had been with me for most of my life up until two and a half years ago.

The last of my grandparents, my father's mother...my nana, passed away when I was 40.  I feel quite fortunate to have had her with me for 40 years of my life.  Not many people can say that.

So, this got me thinking about how great the genes in my family are.  My nana was 96 when she passed away.  I also have a great aunt on my mother's side who passed away just shy of 101 and a great uncle on my father's side who passed away at 99.

But do those genes really matter?  If we have great genes does that mean we can take life for granted and assume we're going to live that long too because we have ancestors who did?

I used to hang out with people in high school and college who believed they were going to die someday, so they may as well have as much fun as possible, no matter what the cost to their health and well being.  Who am I kidding?  I used to be one of those people myself.

Now I have an entirely different outlook.  I am afraid of death, mostly because I love life so much.  I no longer want life to pass me by with a 'devil don't care' attitude.

Did I just grow up, did I 'see the light' or did I just change?  Who knows for sure?  What I do know is my life is incredibly precious to me and I want to do whatever I can to make it a good one. 

So what do I do?  I nourish my body with deliciously nutritious foods, exercise on a regular basis to keep my heart strong, surround myself with like-minded people who I love and care about and I do all that I can to maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Being healthy, mentally, physically and spiritually is essential to me.  Without my health, what do I have?

...And, I want to continue to evolve each and every day into an even healthier person than I was the day before.

How do I do that?  I read, I listen, I learn...and then, I implement change.  For lots of people, change is scary.  For me, change means growth and how can growth be a bad thing?

So, what about you?  How do you want to spend your days on this earth?

It's inevitable that we're all going to die someday.  Do you want to make the most of your time on this earth by being healthy so you can have longevity?  We can all be healthier in one way or another so why not aspire to doing just that?

My challenge for you is to start living a healthier life today in any way you know how.  You only have one chance at life, don't let it slip away.  Live it to the fullest.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie, the 'Shawshenk Redemption' is "Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying."  I choose to get busy living.  What do you chose?