The Quote That Changed My Life the Other Dayfeatured

It all started on a Tuesday night. I was busy planning my next yoga class playlist and stumbled upon the most beautiful song. It wasn’t even that the lyrics were the most profound, it was the angel of a voice behind them.

I continued playing the song day after day, long after I taught the yoga class featuring that song on the playlist, themed around allowing your soul to find joy. And I couldn’t help but wonder if this artist had other songs, if they had made it big within their lifetime.

I soon found out that the artist, briefly known as Nightbirde, was no longer on this earth. Her lifespan was short… but her voice was so delicate, so sweet, so profound, so everlasting.

I looked deeper to find that the young woman had lost a battle with cancer at the age of 31. She had been a contestant on ‘America’s Got Talent’ in 2021 and almost won the competition before she had to drop out due to her declining health.

Her name was Jane Kristen Marczewski and she changed my whole outlook on life.

I watched a recording of her live performance on the show. She sang a song she wrote about being okay. The judges were moved by the emotion behind every lyric that rolled off her lips. She could have won the entire competition then and there.

Before her performance, the judges learned she was battling cancer in her lungs, spine, and liver. She was most definitely not as okay as her angelic voice seemed.

If you watch it, you will see exactly what it is that I am talking about. She was glowing as she stood up there with cancer plaguing her body singing about being “okay.” She was genuine, she was bright, she was so full of life. More than anyone I have ever seen. She had a sparkle in her eye as if she was guaranteed 100 more years on this earth…to play…to sing…to fly.

When her performance concluded, she shared dialogue with the judges. That is when she said the words that would change me forever:

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore before you decide to be happy.”

Poetic silence and applause followed.

Think about that. Think about Jane. Think about you. Think about me. Think about all of the people that you love. Think about how you live your life. Think about how you could live your life. Think about how we could all live our lives.

Jane, thank you for sharing what was in your soul with the world and thank you for allowing your soul to find joy and happiness even when you were not okay in every single way but okay in the ways that truly mattered. You were more alive than many of us who are still here are.

Love Deeply and Forever,

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