A young Australian woman who reportedly died on Jan. 4 after a harrowing battle with a rare blood cancer released a letter just before she passed away offering “life advice” — and it’s contents are pretty stirring.
Holly Butcher started the letter by discussing what it was like to confront her own mortality.
“It’s a strange thing to realise and accept your mortality at 26 years young. It’s just one of those things you ignore. The days tick by and you just expect they will keep on coming,” Butcher wrote. “Until the unexpected happens.”
She continued, “I always imagined myself growing old, wrinkled and grey — most likely caused by the beautiful family (lots of kiddies) I planned on building with the love of my life. I want that so bad it hurts.”
Butcher, who was 27 at the time of her death, went on to say that life is precious, unpredictable and fragile and that “each day is a gift” and not a “given right.” She said she loved her life and didn’t want to die, but was obviously given no choice.
Read her post below (caution: language):
https://www.facebook.com/hollybutcher90/posts/10213711745460694?pnref=story
In the end, Butcher said that she simply wants people to stop sweating the small stuff and the “meaningless stresses in life” and encouraged those who find themselves complaining about minor matters to think a bit deeper.
“Those times you are whinging about ridiculous things (something I have noticed so much these past few months), just think about someone who is really facing a problem,” she said. “Be grateful for your minor issue and get over it. It’s okay to acknowledge that something is annoying but try not to carry on about it and negatively effect other people’s days.”
And Butcher wasn’t done there.
“Once you do that, get out there and take a freaking big breath of that fresh Aussie air deep in your lungs, look at how blue the sky is and how green the trees are; It is so beautiful. Think how lucky you are to be able to do just that — breathe,” she continued.
Whether it’s bad traffic or a sleepless night due to kids — or even a bad hairdo, she said to let all the “insignificant” stuff go, noting that when a person is faced with his or her mortality he or she starts focusing on what really matters.
Butcher also encouraged people to “give, give, give” and said that doing so will actually allow individuals to “gain more happiness” for themselves. She spent the remainder of her letter offering up a slew of advice about complex matters such as the way people live their lives — and simply matters such as eating a piece of cake guilt-free.
She concluded her touching letter,”‘Til we meet again.”