
Ask HN: If you had less than a year to live what would you do? - kevindeasis
I heard some people like CEO of Dropbox started counting approximately how many days they had left on Earth to make the most out of it.<p>I&#x27;m curious to know what most of you would do.
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DoreenMichele
I actually spent a year at death's door. I spent that time doing whatever made
me hurt less.

That was about 17 years ago.

Edit: I will note this is a completely unrealistic thought experiment. People
who have actually been told they have months to live are typically too sick to
reliably get out of bed and leave the house. Yet, most people who reply will
implicitly disregard that reality while making up stories about immense
personal accomplishments in their final days. Because the question itself
implicitly ignores that reality.

~~~
rubyfan
I recently got pretty sick and ended up in the hospital. I met some people who
were pretty bad off. I met a guy with one lung and lung cancer - he
realistically has a very short life ahead of him. He’s not traveling or
checking off his bucket list. He’s in and out of the hospital, on oxygen
periodically and is taking a variety of opiate pain killers.

I have to agree with you, when you’re told you only have a year to live, it’s
probably unrealistic that you’re going to be making the most and enjoying the
days ahead of you.

It’s important to make every minute count and enjoy it while you can. Don’t
wait until you have a year left.

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mattbgates
Travel. There is nothing better than meeting new people and realizing everyone
is just trying to work their way to a better life, day after day.

I traveled across the United States, lived in other states -- worked in a
liquor store in downtown Chicago, drove across California while sleeping in my
car for the entire week, while sleeping just outside and near some celebrity
houses -- and I've even lived in another country long enough to experience
culture shock upon living there and returning back home. There are good people
and there are bad people all around.

The world can be dangerous if you aren't cautious and careful, but you can
survive in most places around the world, in most countries. To talk to people,
to learn about their own trials and tribulations, to hear and understand their
philosophies, to know who they are, who they became, and even who they want to
be, is just so interesting.

Even Hacker News... startups, entrepreneurs, individuals, the bored and the
procrastinators, males and females, everyone has their own story and their own
life, and they are all just trying to make it, and make it a better life for
themselves (and others, usually). I certainly don't want to say everyone is
greedy, but most people just want to earn enough to be comfortable and not
have to worry about money... and in a way, this connects us all, the desire
for peace, the desire to do something, or even change the world.

To experience the human condition, to be a soul living in a human body..
there's no guarantees of anything else other than what is now... so it only
makes sense to spend the last year of your life, on the planet you call home,
amongst the very species, humans, just understanding what life is all about to
them... so that you might be able to understand your own life.

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zapperdapper
Flight to BKK. Party. Hard. It's probably as good an option as anything. I've
done my fair share of it and when I'm supping on my chemo cocktail I will look
back and have a smile on my face as I remember those times. :)

Seriously though, I would probably carry on pretty much like I am. Long walks
in the beautiful countryside here in the Cotswolds, reading, sitting on the
sofa watching ST:Enterprise (the best ST series IMHO!) with my partner and
cat, writing, learning, visiting my family. I'm on my typical "gap between
contracts" right now so work (or money) isn't an issue.

I'm 55 and conscious of being over half way there. Friend of my brother just
died of cancer age 46. I once worked somewhere a guy had a heart attack in the
office and died in his mid thirties. I know a guy (programmer) who had a
nervous breakdown in his twenties. I once had a guy standing in front of me on
the station platform jump in front of the tube train. My partner's best friend
was murdered by a serial killer
([http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/562809/arrested-
ta...](http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/562809/arrested-taxi-driver-
who-robbed-raped-passengers-linked-to-killing-of-papadom-s-widow/story/)), she
had not so long before lost her husband to an early death (cancer leading to
complications). One of the first jobs I was given when I started my career was
to ship a body back from Sudan - he was an oil worker who had been shot. I was
22 at the time. He was 23.

This might all sound depressing but it's life. I learned long ago that life is
short, and fragile, and you only have one. It's far too precious to spend most
of it doing stuff you don't care about, with people you don't like. Get out
there, have fun and LIVE!!

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dukeflukem
Get a job developing crud apps for a large souless corporation. Read HN
purposelessly for 3 hours a day. Invest in a indexed fund. Eat TV dinner spag
bowls. Buy groceries. Clean the apartment. Ignore my. neighbour. Watch
Netflix.

~~~
fiftyacorn
im reading this like the opening scene in trainspotting

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rdiddly
I'd probably try some things that the fear of death presently keeps me from
doing. Probably tell a few people what I really think. Other than that just
making sure my affairs are in order and eating whatever I want!

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gyardley
I would spend all day every day hanging out with and taking care of my baby
boy - pretty much what I do now, but with a lot more poignancy.

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taw55
Try to spend as much time with friends and family as I can manage.

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johnwheeler
Spend as much time with my kids as they’d go along with. Wouldn’t have to do
anything special. Watching TV would be fine.

~~~
matt_the_bass
Before I had kids, I would have said lots of “wild crazy" things. Since having
kids, I would do the same as you.

It's amazing how that changes your perspective. And those without kids will
never understand this feeling. (I'm not saying it's a better feeling just
totally different).

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bodegajed
If I will have enough money and Visa not an issue, travel somewhere extremely
cold and snowy. If not — which is a great possiblity, I will instead spend my
time helping people on stack overflow or help fix other people's bugs on
GitHub

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Torgo
Depression makes it hard to do anything at the best of times, so I suppose I
would find a source of amphetamines to boost my energy and then really tear it
up doing some of the things other threads suggested.

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matchmike1313
I would go hike the more technical peaks I am hesitate to hike, travel to the
top countries on my bucket list I haven't visited, and I would get married to
my girlfriend.

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throwaway413
You’d marry your girlfriend knowing she’d be a widow in a years time? Why make
things more formal and irreversible, than less?

Genuinely curious to your reasoning.

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tuananh
> I heard some people like CEO of Dropbox started counting approximately how
> many days they had left on Earth

source?

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SirLJ
Eat and drink and drugs and those 4 things...

