Book Review: Chasing Daylight – Eugene O’Kelly

It has been a very long time since I first read Chasing Daylight. I believe that the first time I read it was about 10 years ago whilst I was still in college. Now, I can’t exactly remember how I came across it, but throughout the years it has definitely been a special book to me.

To provide a quick synopsis for you, the book is about the CEO of one of the big four accounting firms, KPMG, who finds out that he has 3 months left to live due to terminal cancer. Unsurprisingly, this was a discovery radically altered his life.

As a goal driven person and an accountant by training and temperament, he sought to do the best that he could to systematically make the last days of his life, the best days.

Personally, I have always been quite fascinated with death. Some do not like to talk or think about it, but the regular thought of death often guides me on how I live. The want to leave the world a little bit better than it was before I came into the fold, the want to be the best version of myself, the want to live a quality life and to be the best example that I can be. These are all thoughts jolted by my thoughts of the end.

What I find most interesting about this book is how Eugene approached his last days on earth. The final project with his family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances.

It was predicted that Eugene had 100 days left to live and in this period he aimed to have as many Perfect Moments as possible. He described these Perfect Moments as being special instances that can last a short period of time or can last for much longer. It can be a lovely meal with a friend in a luxury restaurant or a glare shared with a stranger. They are moments to be cherished that ultimately add up to creating a perfect day.

Eugene aimed for every day to be a perfect day. He wanted to be completely present in the moment in order to appreciate the fullness of each day. Interestingly, it was often in the imperfect and unscheduled moments where perfection was found. The moments where spontaneity thrived.

There are so many lessons to take from this book. From the unwindings he had with family, friends, acquaintances and colleagues. To the book he decided to write to share the lessons he learned. To his experience of acceptance. Acceptance of death, acceptance of deterioration and acceptance of the life that he had lived.

It is an encouraging story and an inspirational one. Over the years I have come to experience the death of those important and close to me and have often been inspired by the way they dealt with their final days.

In my view, truly living is a preparation for death and this book is a great example of this. It is noteworthy that one of the things that Eugene wished he had achieved more of was balance. He loved his work, but began to see how balance could have made him more effective at work whilst also giving him the opportunity to spend precious time with family and to engage in other activities.

We often have a lot of trouble coming to terms with our mortality. It can at times feel like we will live forever despite knowing this to be impossible. It can also feel as if death is very far away, however I would really urge you to read this book and learn some of the lessons from Eugene’s last moments. Who knows when our last day will be.

Some of my favourite excerpts are:

“Perhaps some of the continuing obsession with the future and the past, or even most of it, was motivated by ego, a basic and lifelong impulse to find one’s slot, to still be seen as a contributing member of society. (How could I let go of that?)”

“Looking at how some of the people around me had managed their lives, I lamented that they had not been blessed as I had, with this jolt to life. They had no real motivation or clear timeline to stop what they were so busy at, to step back, to ask what exactly they were doing with their life”

“Some people out there—not enough, but some—understand that you start putting money away now, so that it can grow to be sufficient for later in life, when you need it. Why wouldn’t you start doing that now with something at least as important as your money—your soul?”

You can buy the book on amazon here