An Unexpected Lesson to Live Intentionally

Have you ever planned a vacation—dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s, even paid for it in advance along with your scheduled excursions—only to arrive at your destination and get sick? 

This happened to me recently on a much-needed trip to Mexico. After several agonizing hours, I needed to seek medical attention, and it was confirmed that I had gotten food poisoning on day 1. I remember lying there after the doctor left my room and feeling a deep sense of disappointment, thinking about how much of a waste it seemed. 

Boy, was I wrong.

When you are sick, you’re forced to slow down. A sense of stillness comes over you—a stillness that clears the noise, the plans, the routines, and brings everything into sharp focus. It was during this stillness that I found myself thinking a lot about time. How fragile it is. How little of it we really have. And how none of it—not 1 second—can be retrieved once it has passed.

And that’s when it hit me. No one understands the reality of time more than the people we care for each and every day. Time is often something we take for granted. We assume we can manage and predict it, but it is a finite resource, and its flow can be altered by circumstances beyond our control.

As I was laid up in my hotel room, I began to think about the people we care for. While cancer is a terrifying, unforgiving disease, there’s an odd kind of gift that comes with it: an acute awareness of time. Time to fight for your life. Time to say goodbye. Time to forgive and to be forgiven. Time to make peace. For those with a terminal diagnosis, this is where the beauty of palliative care and hospice comes into play. In the last weeks or months of their lives, our patients can be more comfortable, and we can help ensure they accomplish their final goals.

Many of us won’t realize the gift of time until it’s too late. We will walk through our days as if we’re promised a tomorrow. We say things like “someday” or “when I have more time.” But the truth is, there’s never enough time.

But what if we lived like we knew time was running out? What if we woke up every morning with intention? With clarity that today matters? That there are people to love, words to share, and experiences to be had. Time is a precious commodity, and an illness can remind us to cherish each moment, even when life takes unexpected turns. 

This is what cancer care has taught me more than anything. That it’s not about dying—it’s about living. Living with the understanding that we cannot waste a second sleepwalking through life, especially for those of us who are leading teams or taking care of patients with cancer. In every interaction we have with others, we need to make the most of our time to make the biggest difference to our teams or the patients who have trusted us with their lives. 

Here’s to living like we know time is valuable, that it’s not guaranteed. And when we bring intention to each day, that’s when we really start to live.  

In her monthly leadership series, Barbara Schmidtman, PhD, vice president of cancer care operations at Corewell Health in West Michigan, offers her perspective on addressing workforce-related issues through effective leadership practices. Read her previous post in this series here.