Having a heart attack at 23 years old. And again at 25. I've since lost over a hundred pounds and have seriously gotten a much better hold on my overall health but It's an eye opener. The stress of finding a median between quality of life and quantity of life is important. I want to be there for my kids and eventually for my grand kids but I don't want to live like a vegan monk to do it.

Watching a sudden heart attack claim the life of my father. I had a new appreciation for life shortly after.

For me it was my deconversion. One of the biases I had against giving up my faith was the idea that there would be no afterlife. When I finally realized that the religion I grew up in was false, I had to face the fact that in all likelyhood, there would be nothing after this life. It was a sobering concept, and one that took me almost 2 years to come to grips with.

I just remember when I was 11 ... After my grandmother's death, I realized I would die. At some point ... I would cease to exist. Just some heavy shit for an 11 year old.

The death of my HS friend at age 59 to cancer -- I realized that life is getting short and it was time to live it in the present. GO/SEE/DO -- NOW!! -- days are getting shorter, winter's coming on.

6 years ago AMLdiagnosis - 5 year leukemia survivor. Learned to live again.

Every time my bloodsugar falls below 70, my brain shuts off my speech center and goes into panic mode. Try that with broken ribs and arm in a cast like I was a few months ago, and you
will get a taste of death coming closer and closer. My dogs saved me, barking hysterically ( they are chihuahuas. that's what they do) until Brendan came, saw what was going on and fed me honey.

1. The quality or condition of being mortal.
2. Mortals considered as a group; the human race.
3. Death, especially of large numbers; heavy loss of life: the mortality wrought by an epidemic.
4. Death rate.
5. The rate of failure or loss: the high mortality among family-run farms.

Which 'mortality' are you referring to? (I'm very literal.)

Life itself

I had a stroke in 2011. The initial event was pretty fucked up, but then I spent about a week going in and out of consciousness. Every time I’d come to I was looking at different people, then I’d be gone again. I really thought I was dancing on the ledge.

My own mortality, nothing yet. I have had some shake ups when I have lost or almost lost someone else. Never think about it for me.