It takes a lot of courage to stare death in the face and leave an inspiring message for those who follow you. But that's exactly what one young Australian woman did before she lost a long battle with cancer.
27-year-old Holly Butcher from Grafton, New South Wales, wrote a touching letter just before she lost her life to Ewing's sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer, this past Thursday.
Now her family have shared the wide-ranging and lengthy letter she wrote, urging readers not to waste their lives 'being miserable' and instead focus on what is most important.
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The letter's clearly struck a chord with people as to date it's been shared over 7,500 times. What a gift to leave to the world.
Holly explained how it 'hurt' her to think about losing her life at such a young age and warned readers to embrace theirs, describing life as 'fragile, precious and unpredictable'.
"I just want people to stop worrying so much about the small, meaningless stresses in life and try to remember that we all have the same fate after it all so do what you can to make your time feel worthy and great," Holly wrote.
Butcher, who was a keen squash and hockey player, admitted that trying to live a healthy life was 'probably my major passion' and regretted not being able to continue with it.
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She urged readers not to get hung up on minor inconveniences that are 'so insignificant' in the grand scheme of things, instead telling people just to be happy with existing and not to neglect their 'mental, emotional and spiritual happiness'.
"I hear people complaining about how terrible work is or about how hard it is to exercise - Be grateful you are physically able to," she wrote.
"Work and exercise may seem like such trivial things... until your body doesn't allow you to do either of them."
Holly railed against social media and materialism, urging us to use our money on experiences rather than objects and enjoy living the moment rather than wondering what it will look like on Insta.
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"Try just enjoying and being in moments rather than capturing them through the screen of your phone," Holly added.
"Life isn't meant to be lived through a screen nor is it about getting the perfect photo... enjoy the bloody moment people!"
Giving people final titbits of advice like telling people you love them and learning how to say no, Holly gave her most powerful advice of all: do what truly makes you happy and if you're not, start now.
"If something is making you miserable, you do have the power to change it - in work or love or whatever it may be. Have the guts to change," Holly concluded.
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"You don't know how much time you've got on this earth so don't waste it being miserable."
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Holly ButcherTopics: Facebook