I was folding my clothes, they had been lying on my bed for weeks, because I’m lazy. But I also am an adult, so I can decide when to fold my clothes, right? Right.

I was texting a friend about some thoughts I was having. Recently, I found out some sad news: a girl that I used to know when I was going to high school, suddenly passed away. We would catch the bus together, say hi, chat, and sometimes sit together. She was only one year younger than me—23.

I told my friend how I felt about it. I have been thinking about her a lot since I heard the news. She’s not the first young person that I know who has lost her life at such a young age. In fact, I can count about 6 or 7 people that I’ve met, who have lost their lives young, I’d like to share their stories in the future.

Processing this type of news is always challenging for me. I often feel deep sorrow and fear. As the number of people I know who have died young continues to rise, I can’t help but remember that I could be next, along with my partner or someone else I love. While it may seem torturous, I believe these are strong and clear reminders from life: you won’t be here forever, you are not different from others, and one day, you too will stop breathing.

I will never know when my time or the time of the people I care about will come. It’s something we all have to face! We really need to remember this because it’s easy to get used to our routines and take everything for granted. I’m not saying we should live in fear of dying, but we should definitely be worried about not truly living while we have this unknown time ahead of us.

I get that sometimes it feels like it’s not worth it. But if you think about all the awesome things in life, you can find a reason to stick around. Sometimes you really have to put in the effort to figure out what makes you happy, but it’s always worth a shot. Trust me, you’ll regret not trying things out way more than if you just moved on without knowing what it could have been like!

As I kept on folding my clothes and reflecting on various thoughts, I felt I received a sign—one of those moments that makes you think, “Wow, someone is watching me and listening to my thoughts!” It felt like it could be the ghost of someone I’ve lost. There was a message on the shirt in front of me:

In conclusion, despite all the BAD things that can happen and the SUFFERING we go through (absolutely inevitable things) LIFE is GOOD. WE CAN make it good, and WE CAN CHOOSE to make it good! We cannot wait for it to change itself; again, most of it is not in our hands. But what’s in our control is choosing HOW to react to the events that are part of EXISTENCE. We can choose to let things destroy us and put us down, OR we can choose to use everything we go through to LEARN, get stronger, keep looking for what GOOD is left, and keep on creating more and more ENERGY to feel good and even help others feel good.

I will always feel sorry for the loss of special people in my life. But because of those events, I appreciate my life even more. I always remember that my time is limited, and I definitely can’t waste it; that would be disrespecting those who have lost their lives and would have done anything to have their time back. So, I live for those people too. For them, I keep smiling and try to enjoy life to the fullest.

I hope that sharing my perspective can help you out with whatever you’re dealing with!