"What have you done to-day to make you feeeeeeeel proud"

It's so easy to say: "WOAH! That was so inspiring!" but it's so much harder to act upon it.

I heard about Stephen's Story a few days before my 19th birthday in April. I clicked on his page and saw a pioneer - someone who was desperate to live life, to help others and have fun whilst doing it.

I began to read profusely about him, typing his name into Google and finding everything about who this incredible teenager was. What I saw written on various webpages was that he was a 19 year old with incurable cancer. What I read in my mind that he was the same age as me.

This birthday, I did something I've never done before. Every birthday, after presents and cake and, sometimes, a party my birthday is over. That's it and life just goes on. Birthdays are just markers: a day in the year to break up the routine of life. A day when I can tell myself that I can eat absolutely anything I want in any quantity I desire.

But this year, as I turned 19 on my own at midnight, I decided to be different. The story of Stephen Sutton was in the back of my mind and I made a list of things I wanted to do before I turned 20 and was officially not a teenager anymore.

It made this birthday, more than any other, feel so special and I got into the habit of telling myself: "If this was your last day on earth would you feel like it was a good end? Would you leave with no regrets?" and words to this effect:

It was a little bit morbid at first, as though at any moment or any morning I could wake up and it might be my last. But it was the most motivating thing for me. 

I started doing little things: like making sure that I met up with friends at every opportunity, and started planning for bigger things: like my first 5k run. 

I began desiring for new experience and grabbing everything I had the opportunity to. A few weeks ago, I became the Recruitment and Outreach Officer for our university RAG society with exactly that same mentality. If I had the opportunity to run for something and make a difference, now was the time to do it. 

And low and behold, I was successful!

But what was most important for me was that I not only looked to the future, but remembered what I had already done. I didn't just want to have plans to do things and then when they were done, they were done. I wanted to have something to hold onto. I wanted to know what I'd already achieved and how I could build on them so that, even if I didn't achieve the things on my list that I'd planned, I still knew that I'd been somewhere. 

And for all of this there was no inspiration quite like that of Stephen Sutton's story and his optimism. When I read the update that his mum put on the page this morning, I cried. There was such a rich emotion attached to Stephen that was felt by everyone. I felt like mountains had been moved and everyone had this drive to support what Stephen did and what we were all doing by donating and raising awareness for the Teenage Cancer Trust. 

For me, knowing about Stephen gave me a kick, to do things that were new to me and things I'd always been meaning to do. To take more of those experiences and to love life even more! 

Do more, love more, be more!