Death is an aspect of life that affects everyone, yet no one likes to talk about. It's inevitable to leave this place we call home and to ascend into an afterlife no one knows much about. Life is almost a cruel joke if you think about it. In a way, we're living to die.

If you could ask anyone when they envision their death or how they envision their death, the answer would almost always be of old age during the last breaths of their lives. No one wants to see themselves pass away any other way. They want to have lived a full and robust life before they retire into the bliss of what is next to come. That is the ideal situation, right? To live a lifespan, to raise a family, to pursue your dreams, to grow old with your lover.

Unfortunately, in the real world, where reality is the reigning factor, this isn't always the case. I know, being so young, I've always brushed off death when the topic came up. I'm young, I have my whole life ahead of me, what is there to worry about? Some decisions I have made were, for lack of better terms, stupid and negligent. Death didn't hit me as a phenomenon that could occur at any moment, to anyone until recently.

In less than two months, I've received news that two of my classmates from my high school graduating class have passed away. They were people I saw every day for a large portion of my life. They were people I had classes with and would do group projects together with. They were people I went to elementary, junior high and high school with. I basically watched them grow up and vice versa. I can't say that I was the closest in the world with these two individuals and that we hung out every weekend, because we didn't.

What struck me about these deaths were the fact that as a young adult, you expect people to start passing away when you're much older, more established and have lived a full life to the best of their ability. We're all still kids just getting our lives started; kids who aren't even two years fresh out of high school. Who knows what these two individuals could have become in this crazy world? These two deaths really put two things into perspective for me: life can be so easily taken and we should live it to the fullest every day. The fact that death is something that could occur at any moment doesn't strike fear in my heart like it once did. Quite the contrary, it makes me want to live a life with no regrets. It makes me want to pursue my dreams even more than I already am. Death is inevitable. As unfortunate as the truth is, it is the truth. No one can avoid death or control when it occurs to them. However, what you do what your time on this Earth, before it comes, is completely up to you.