With the current culture of anti-aging, I think sometimes we forget how much of a blessing it is to age. Not everyone gets the opportunity. So I am curious, what are your close calls with death? What happened to you, that you later realized you were lucky to escape alive?

I'll go first. When I (F27) was 18, I got a spine injury from Kick boxing, which lead to a full blown disc herniation, where my disc eventually wrapped around the nerve root which runs down my left leg. After two years, constant physical therapy, 4 Spinal Steroid injections, a cane, and a medication regiment that could easily OD someone, and suicidal thoughts stemming from the pain, I FINALLY got approved for surgery. They got me in so quickly, that I had the Pre-OP day of surgery.

The nurse is asking me all of the Pre-OP questions and asks if I have any lesions, and I tell her I have a painful red bump under my arm, and show her. She says it's okay and nothing to worry about. So I have my spine surgery. After the initial surgical pain wears off, I realize my leg feels SO much better, but that bump under my arm is getting more painful by the day.

A couple days after my surgery, the pain from the bump under my arm is so bad, that I have to take an opiate painkiller to not throw up from the pain. I go to the doctor and it's fucking MRSA. It took two rounds of antibiotics to get rid of it.

Somehow, by the grace of God or the Universe, or just my own luck, it did not spread to the open wound on my back, leading directly to my spine. I don't know how. But sometimes I think about that and wonder what would have happened if it had spread, given how deadly MRSA can be if it reaches your blood stream.

I also beat drug addiction, which also would have killed me if I had never stopped. I don't know, I just feel very grateful to still be here living life, no matter how hard it is sometimes.