I thought I had my life priorities straight. That was until I sat down with a girl my age who fights for life every day. Kat Lazo is one of the brave souls featured in The CW’s My Last Days, created by Justin Baldoni. Kat is more than a statistic and more than a cancer patient. She’s a rare breed of human who chooses to see and embrace the beauty in life when there’s so much to be angry about. I only spent a few hours with Kat over lunch the day after meeting her at the series premiere. But those few hours instantly created change in me. It was change I knew would live on long after the waiter came over, inevitably approaching us with the bill.
I say inevitable because I knew my emotional, eye-opening time with Kat would eventually have to come to an end. And I didn’t want it to.
It seems ironic that amidst discussing life, hopes, dreams, and being present in the moment, I’d tell Kat what I did. I explained that a huge motivator to create this site and accomplish my goals was getting my heart broken and sticking it to the man who did me wrong. This notion sometimes made me proud. Other times, ashamed. Regardless,
I was seeking revenge.
That mindset is clearly not celebratory of life, nor of in-the-moment mentality. Meanwhile, I’m telling this to a woman who has motivators much more severe and life-altering—yet she chooses not to use them. At least not in the spiteful way I was planning to.
After being crushed—by work, by an ex, by life—we all want to rise above and prove we’re better than the cards we’ve been dealt. Whether it be the revenge body, revenge career, or revenge significant other, most of us have been there.
That day, Kat gave me a piece of her mind and helped me realize: We’re all better than that.
Kat, if you’re reading this, I love the shit out of you!!! And every time I’m feeling spiteful, I realize that I now know better thanks to you and your beautiful wisdom.
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