Living yourself to death... Then back?

"Man, 78, wakes up in body bag at funeral home"

That's definitely not your average headline. 

Walter Williams is a 78 year old man who lives in Lexington, Mississippi, and for a couple of hours, he WAS Walter Williams, a 78 year old man who LIVED in Lexington, Mississippi. 

On Wednesday February 26, his family called the coroner when they found him dead in his home, and he was pronounced as such at 9pm. No breathing, no pulse. He was as dead as a doorknob.

On Thursday February 27, his family received a call from the coroner when they found him ALIVE in his body bag.... Kicking, screaming, and full of life! 

Williams was just a few minutes away from being embalmed when the coroner realized that the man in the body bag wasn't actually dead. They believe that the cause of his death (and revival) was a faulty pacemaker in his chest! Apparently it stopped for a long enough time for him to die, be pronounced as dead, but restarted soon enough to stop any permanent damage to his body... That is one incredible fluke if you ask me!

This lucky man got a second chance at life because of a strange twist of fate, and he's "happy to be alive" today! 

Imagine the feeling of dying, and then getting the chance to come back?? You'd (hopefully) have a new outlook on life, be a whole lot more grateful about being alive, and maybe do something to make your new last days a little more special!

The thing is, you don't have to wait for something crazy like this to happen to get a new outlook on your life, you can change that for yourself right this second! Just make a list of the things that would probably change if you died and came back. 

• Tell everyone that you love, that you love them
• Apologize for the things that you've done wrong in your life
• Forgive the people that have done something wrong to you
• Smile more
• Take more risks
• Try something new

The list could be infinite. Read your list, and do those things NOW. Don't waste your life away looking for that "lucky break", make things happen yourself.

Olympic Dreams to Reality

Setting goals and finding a way to achieve them is all a part of leading a fulfilling and happy life. Going to the Olympics is almost any committed athlete’s goal in life, but it is a difficult goal to reach. The amount of commitment, time, effort, injuries, emotions, and money that goes into the journey is intense but for the select few who make it, well worth it. There were a few Canadian athletes who really caught my attention at this years Olympics Games because of their achievements. 

Snowboarder Mark McMorris was a favourite in terms of making it to Sochi, so it didn't come as a shock when he was chosen for the first ever Canadian Olympic slopestyle team, but competing in the Olympic Games was not an easy feat. Just two weeks before the games in Sochi, McMorris crashed on a run in the X-Games and fractured a rib. Most people would probably pull out of the Olympics to nurse the injury, but not Mark! After STILL receiving a silver medal in that event at the X-Games, he fought through the pain and discomfort to place an impressive 3^rd place, just 5 points behind 1^st place. Even though a bronze medal can be disappointing to some, Mark said “I would have loved to be in the gold-medal position but with what I've been through in the last two weeks, just standing on the podium in general feels like a gold medal to me.” (Source) He didn’t let anything get in the way of his dream of competing in the Olympics which allowed him to not only compete, but beat his injury to snag a spot on the podium.

   Dara Howell is just a 19 year old girl from the small town of Huntsville, Ontario, but she made sure that everyone knew her name when she won gold for Canada in the first ever freestyle skiing slopestyle event. Howell was born and raised in Huntsville, and grew up skiing at a resort that only had 8 small runs. Her passion for skiing pushed her to travel for hours to a better ski hill so she could improve her skills, which paid off as she became more and more successful. Believe it or not, her Olympic gold is actually the first gold she’s gotten in a professional competition! She’s received three bronzes and one silver in the X-Games for slopestyle, which must make this gold a whole lot more satisfying.

Both of these athletes compete in one of the riskiest sports possible, but they don't let the possibility of injury stop them from doing what they love. This kind of outlook on life is extremely important because if you let your fears control you, you'll never be able to fulfill your goals and dreams!