When I was 16 years old, I was told by a neurosurgeon I’d be lucky to be walking by the time I turned 30.

He dropped the news after a routine hospital appointment.

I’d just had a scan for scoliosis—a serious, but not that serious, condition where your spine goes wonky. I’d been walking like a crab for a while, so the diagnosis wasn't surprising.

But I’d also been getting blinding headaches, which we thought were migraines.

This is where shit hit the fan.

Turns out, it was a tumour who’d set up shop in my spinal cord, enjoying a free ride at the base of my brain. Thankfully it was non-cancerous. But it was slowly growing and degrading my nerves, so it wasn’t exactly welcome either.

Two surgeries, two years, and 20 hours later, I’d been sliced, diced, and stapled back together.

Thankfully I got away relatively problem free.

The only symptoms I have are mild right-side nerve damage (lucky I’m a leftie) and muscle pain in my hands (which makes writing every day interesting… but I’m fully addicted, and it’s worth the squeeze).

Oh, and to my uncles’ amusement, I can’t really look left or right. So they’re always pointing at things behind me.

But get this:

When I was a dentist, one of my patients had the same disorder. He was completely f*cked. We bonded over it, but I felt guilty and grateful. He had the surgery five years after me—but by then he’d lost control of many of his functions.

This is one reason I quit dentistry to write.

When I realised that someone else’s reality was a career where they write and read all day, I wanted it bad. Drilling teeth just wasn’t for me. It was also a road to ruin because staring in mouths all day was wrecking my neck.

I thought I could 'ride out' a career I didn't enjoy, but life is too short to just tolerate what you do.

Unfortunately, it takes a brush with your own mortality to realise that.

We think time is infinite. But it's ticking away every day, and most people don’t understand the urgency until it’s too late.

You cannot 'live your life' at some point in the future.

It must be now.

You don’t have to do crazy shit, but just be grateful for whatever you’re up to. And if you're not happy, work hard to change it.

Like Jim Rohn once said, "You are not a tree. Move".

Food for thought,

Kieran