Do it now.

This morning I learned about the death, at far too young an age, of a lovely woman, a photographer, one of the thousands of you who never got famous, never got rich, but continued to make her work because she loved it. One of her colleagues called her “the Weegee of weddings” and although that sounds virtually impossible, her ability with black and white warrants such praise.

“A short battle with cancer” says her obituary.

This morning, before I learned this, I ran again for the first time in a while. I was starting (again) an exercise and diet program. Day 1. I had decided over the weekend that it was important to me to lose the few pounds that have been bothering me and to get more exercise. It matters and I needed to stop putting it off.

We put things off, thinking we can do it later, tomorrow, whenever. We always think there will be time to quit smoking, to make and send promos, to shoot that personal project, to take that vacation, to tell someone you love her/him. At the same time, we check email, Facebook, tweet about nothing that really matters, watch every episode of whatever tv show we like back-to-back on Netflix, and surf the ‘net for more. Somehow we make time for the unimportant, but the stuff that matters we put off.

Don’t wait on the important stuff. Maybe it’s hard stuff, but do it now. Maybe it means facing your fear, but do it now. Maybe you’ll be the only person doing it, saying it, being it, but do it now.

Commit to your life.

If it matters, do it now.