When my mom passed in May 2018 everything changed. I didn’t have the same tolerance for things. That deep loss and pain woke me up. Her passing made me realize life is too short to be unhappy. I was high functioning in the grief, and in a way I had to be. I was not happy in my marriage and had two young kids and a business that required my presence. But death definitely jolts us awake, and gives us the gift of cutting out what is not important and focusing only on what is.