Excerpt: While Cystic Fibrosis ultimately took her life, Claire never let CF stop her from living her best life. Read our 28 Claire Wineland Quotes on life, death, and living with challenges.
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RIP Claire. May your words continue to echo into the future for generations to come.
“Death is Inevitable. Living a life we can be proud of is something we can control.”
Claire Wineland (1997 – 2018)
Claire Wineland was a gift to us all. She was a mover; a shaker; a YouTuber; an inspirational speaker; a fighter; an activist; a non-profit founder; a no-bullsh*ter; and a compassionate, kind-hearted, genuine soul with a strong mind and a powerful message—who also happened to have Cystic Fibrosis (CF). And on Sunday, September 2nd, 2018, she passed away from a massive stroke that happened from complications of a successful double lung transplant surgery when she was just 21 years old.
The double lung transplant was a chance at more time—more time to create, share, connect, and continue living the beautiful and inspiring life that she made for herself—in spite of CF. And while CF is ultimately what took her life, Claire never wanted to let CF stop her from living her best life. Her legacy is not just that of a patient who did her treatments, but of a person who lived a beautifully rich, complex, and inspiring life. Here are a few pieces of her legacy:
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- You can live a beautiful life AND have incredible challenges. Claire, in fact, believed that life challenges are the very foundation from which a person takes steps forward in life. During a TED talk, when she was just 15 years old, she said, “I’m not stuck in this belief that challenges are given to us to hold us back. I am lifted up by the belief that challenges are here to help us move forwards—and that is the difference. That is the only difference between people who are living a passionate, proud life and people who feel sad or people who get older and feel like they don’t know what they’re doing anymore.” And it was with this belief that she was able to build such a positive and powerful relationship with CF that she was then able to use as a tool to relate to and connect with the rest of the world.
- Making your life beautiful is just one decision away. Because of Cystic Fibrosis, Claire spent nearly 1/4 of her life in hospitals. That’s the equivalent of 5 years of her life! And when she was young—around 7 or 8 years old—she had a moment when she decided she would take control of her hospital room and create a beautiful living environment that would shatter hospital room expectations. During a talk at Klick MUSE New York she elaborates on this and said, “People who are sick, nurses, and doctors—everybody in the medical care and health care communities—get so stuck in this notion that a hospital room is this cold, sterile, white place where we go to be sick and that’s all that it can be. And we get so stuck in that that we cannot see the possibility; we can’t see what we can make out of it; we don’t see what we can do with it. And I started to realize that our lives, in a way, are like this. Our lives are like empty hospital rooms. We get stuck in this idea that it’s supposed to be good or bad and we don’t let ourselves realize—we don’t let ourselves see—that we can make that hospital room beautiful. We can make our lives into a piece of art. We all have that ability, we all have that capability, as human beings, to turn these empty hospital rooms—to turn these lives—into something really beautiful.”
- Death is not the scary thing—living a life without a passion is the scary thing. Being a person who always knew she would die young and had experienced several run-ins with death before she actually passed, Claire was able to share a unique perspective on death and the process of dying. She wanted people to understand that at the end, it wasn’t fear of pain or the unknown that brought grief, but rather fear of not being able to live the life you truly wanted to live—that is what would bring people deep and painful grief. In a YouTube video about death, she says, “No matter how spiritually enlightened you are, or how many times you’ve thought about death and think you’re okay with it, you will grieve the life you could’ve lived when you’re dying. You’re losing the person you could’ve become, the things you could’ve done, the things you could’ve made with your life—you’re losing that. And there’s no way to get around that.”
Below, you will find our complete list of 28 Beautiful Claire Wineland Quotes on Life, Death, and Living with Challenges. All of the quotes were typed out by-hand and were found from various informal talks and inspirational speeches that she gave throughout her lifetime. Claire lived a special life on this earth and moving her legacy forward is the best thing we felt we could do to honor that. If you feel compelled to help propel Claire’s legacy forward, you can visit Claire’s Place—the non-profit organization she founded to help families living with CF—and show your support and love there. Otherwise, we hope her words find their way to a special place in your heart. Enjoy.
The List: 28 Beautiful Claire Wineland Quotes on Life, Death, and Living with Challenges:
“I have lived a life of a lot of pain and I’m not pretending that I haven’t. I’ve had to deal with death; I’ve had to deal with painful surgeries; I’ve had to deal with being alone and scared in the hospital. But I have had a beautiful life—and one that I am so incredibly proud of. And that is not in spite of having Cystic Fibrosis… That’s because of it.”
Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting
“Some of the happiest moments in my life have been when I am sick in the hospital—honestly. And think about the implications of that because I have lived the kind of life that all of you spend your entire lives running from. I’ve been sick and dying my entire life. And yet, I am so proud of my life. What does that say? We’re waiting to be healthy; we’re waiting to be wealthy; we’re waiting to find our passion; we’re waiting to find our true love before we actually start living! Instead of looking at everything that we have—looking at all of the pain, looking at all of the sadness, looking at all of the beauty, and making something with that. That’s how innovation happens.”
Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York
“Innovation doesn’t happen because there’s some person who’s in some great circumstance and everything is going well and they get on a roll and they make something for the world. Innovation happens—art happens—because of suffering.”
Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York
“From the moment I was born, I did not care that I was sick or that I was dying. I was going to be okay. And that’s just how it was going to be. And if anybody wanted to fight me on it, I’d fight them back.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“When you look at me, instead of seeing the poor, happy, sick kid… See someone who has lived an incredibly complex life; an incredibly beautiful life; an incredibly painful life; and has made something from it. And realize that you have that power as well.”
Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York
“How do we make it so that when someone is born with a chronic illness, someone who is going to be sick, who might always be sick, who might die sick, can still live a life that they are proud of? How do we teach kids who are sick, teach people who are sick in general, to not feel ashamed of their illness or their experience of life, but to learn from it and to make something from it?”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“We teach sick people that when they are sick, somehow, someway, they cannot be as happy as normal, healthy people. We teach them that their happiness, their contentment in life, their joy in life, is tied to how healthy they are.”
Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York
“Health is not the deciding factor in whether or not you are going to have a life that is successful and a life that you are proud of.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“Health, in and of itself, isn’t important. Health, like most things, is a tool. A tool for you to make something of your life. If you have it, if you know how to use it—and you do use it—you can make something bigger of yourself.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“If I wanted the world to respect me—if I wanted to respect myself—I had to give something of value.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“One of the most painful things about being a human being, in my opinion, is when you feel like you’re not of use to anyone and you have nothing it give. It’s heartbreaking. And a lot of people who are sick, feel that way because just taking care of themselves takes up so much of their time.”
Claire Wineland, Relatable
“The best way to empower someone is not to give them anything; Is not to treat them as if they need to be put on the sidelines. The best way to empower someone is to encourage them to give something to the world—to demand something.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“I think the biggest thing that we’re not taught in our world is that capability and being able to give something of value to the world is really what the human journey is all about.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“I wish that I had someone to tell me to take the passion I had for the imaginary [and put it] into reality because that’s what it’s all about.”
Claire Wineland, Relatable
“People who are sick, nurses, and doctors—everybody in the medical care and health care communities—get so stuck in this notion that a hospital room is this cold, sterile, white place where we go to be sick and that’s all that it can be. And we get so stuck in that that we cannot see the possibility; we can’t see what we can make out of it; we don’t see what we can do with it. And I started to realize that our lives, in a way, are like this. Our lives are like empty hospital rooms. We get stuck in this idea that it’s supposed to be good or bad and we don’t let ourselves realize—we don’t let ourselves see—that we can make that hospital room beautiful. We can make our lives into a piece of art. We all have that ability, we all have that capability, as human beings, to turn these empty hospital rooms—to turn these lives—into something really beautiful.”
Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York
“A lot of motivational speakers will tell you that the point of life is to be happy… I think that’s bullsh*t. I think that happiness is an emotion—it’s some dopamine firing in your brain and it’s great and it’s awesome when it happens. But we can’t chase happiness—we have to chase deep satisfaction and pride—and there’s a difference. And the way that we do that is not by running away from our pain or sickness, it’s by being sick and saying, ‘So what?'”
Claire Wineland (19), Zappos All Hands Meeting
“We look at people who are sick and we pity them because we believe that their lives has to be inherently less joyous than everyone else’s. What we don’t see, is that when people suffer, when people feel pain, it’s just connecting them to life. It’s connecting them to everyone else. Because the truth is, no matter what kind of life you’re living, no matter what kind of circumstance you’re in, you’re going to feel miserable sometimes; You’re going to have nights when you feel like the entire world is closing in on you, and it’s never going to be okay again, and you’re always going to be alone—and you’re going to have days when you feel so happy to be alive; where you feel joyous and you feel inspired… And you are always going to feel all of that. No matter if all of your dreams come true, and you’re living in that New York loft apartment, doing whatever you’ve ever wanted to do, and are in love and married and what not—you’re still going to feel the complexity of life. Because life doesn’t discriminate between circumstance. Life is not going to stop unfolding itself to you just because you’re sick or because your life isn’t how you think it’s supposed to be. There is still going to be beauty.”
Claire Wineland, Klick MUSE New York
“If I have learned anything from living and dying, and from being sick, it’s that we all have something really incredible to share. And that maybe for once we should stop trying to get over our problems, trying to get rid of our problems, trying to jump through hoops to evade our problems, and maybe we should start using them because they are one of the biggest gifts you will ever be given.”
Claire Wineland, Worldz 2017
“That’s what my whole life has been about: trying to help other people understand, truly, how rich having a problem can make your life.”
Claire Wineland (14), TEDx LaJolla
“I’m not stuck in this belief that challenges are given to us to hold us back. I am lifted up by the belief that challenges are here to help us move forwards—and that is the difference. That is the only difference between people who are living a passionate, proud life and people who feel sad or people who get older and feel like they don’t know what they’re doing anymore.”
Claire Wineland (15), TEDxMalibu
“I’m sure you have challenges, things that you wish you could overcome, or things that you could get over… Stop. Stop trying to get over it. Because if we’re trying to get over all of the problems in our life then our entire lifetime is just going to be trying to get over problems—that’s all there is going to be. And that is not a life to be proud of. Instead, find those challenges in your life and use them! Use them and turn them into an opportunity.”
Claire Wineland (15), TEDxMalibu
“I challenge you all to look at your ‘problems,’ and stare them in the eye and say, ‘Listen, this is how it’s going down… I’m not going to try and overcome you anymore or try and face you anymore—you are going to become my friend. And I am going to learn from you as much as I possibly can.”
Claire Wineland (14), Positively Positive
“When you spend a lot of time in a hospital and you know a lot of other people with your condition you start to see patterns emerge in the way that they take care of themselves. I saw these two different extremes: There were these patients who did not give any sh*ts and just never did their treatments, were completely un-compliant, would hide under their covers and not talk to any of the doctors, and were pretty much just giving a giant, “F U” to life — and then there were the patients who were overly compliant, that were perfect with their treatments, that were perfect with their health care, and wanted so desperately to be a good patient. And I saw both of these extremes fail. I saw people who spent every single waking hour of the day focusing on their health and trying to get better and I saw them pass away before I did. I saw them pass away without having become anything more than just a patient. I saw them pass away without having made anything in the world that they were proud of. And of course the other end didn’t work either because they happened to die as well. So I was trying to find some kind of balance. If I only lived to get better, if I only lived for fixing myself, for getting healthy—then what was I actually contributing to the world?”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“I was dying. And I couldn’t gain any kind of control on the situation. There was no, ‘mind over matter-ing’ it for me. My lungs were failing. And I got hit with this huge wave of grief. Which is not something that I had expected. As someone who had always known that I would die young—and I had always accepted that and been okay with that—I was expecting maybe some fear, maybe some hesitation, maybe to turn into a 5-year-old then cry and want my mom… But I wasn’t expecting grief. And what I felt grief for wasn’t the fact that I was dying, it wasn’t about fear of the unknown, it was none of that. I felt grief for the life I could’ve lived. I felt grief for life itself. For all of the possibilities that it held. And I was mad at myself. I spent, literally, 30 minutes as my CO2 levels were rising and I slowly started to hallucinate, being thoroughly pissed at myself for waiting around for the world to tell me I was okay even though I was sick. For waiting around for someone to tell me that I was healthy enough, that I was better enough, I was good enough to live a life that I wanted to live. I wish that I yelled at every single person that had come into the room and said that they were sorry for me.”
Claire Wineland (20), EEM LA 2018
“Death is actually not a scary thing. The scary thing is living life without a passion and then realizing at the very last moment that it’s over and you haven’t done what you wanted to do—and that you’re not proud of your life. That is much more terrifying.”
Claire Wineland (15), TEDxMalibu
“I am not opposed to people thinking about death, or processing it, or questioning it—I think that’s wonderful. What I am opposed to is this notion that you can somehow do death properly. For me, there was no amount of preparation, no amount of thinking about death, wondering what it felt like, coming to terms with what it means, questioning the great beyond—none of that meant jack sh*t when I actually was dying.”
Claire Wineland, YouTube
“No matter how spiritually enlightened you are, or how many times you’ve thought about death and think you’re okay with it, you will grieve the life you could’ve lived when you’re dying. You’re losing the person you could’ve become, the things you could’ve done, the things you could’ve made with your life—you’re losing that. And there’s no way to get around that.”
Claire Wineland, YouTube
“I don’t think that people realize that you’re not supposed to go peacefully. After I came out of almost dying, it really dawned on me how distorted people’s concept of dying is because they think that if they can go peacefully that that means that they’ve lived a good life. That if you can just let it go and you can be completely detached to the outcome, that that means you’re more spiritually enlightened, or that you’re doing it better, or that you’ve had a better life—the truth is, the whole point of dying is to be scared. Because that means that your life meant something to you. You should fear dying. You should be terrified of it. Even though it’s natural, even though it’s going to happen, even though you should come to terms with it in a certain way and go through the feeling of it and have a relationship with it—you also should acknowledge the fact that when it’s going to happen, no matter how much you prepare, you’re going to be terrified. Because life does mean something. And there’s a part of your brain that knows you’re letting it go. And you’re always going to grieve that when it happens. And that’s okay. It’s okay to be terrified.”
Claire Wineland, YouTube
Visit: Claire’s Place Foundation Website — A non-profit organization set up by Claire and her family to help other families living with Cystic Fibrosis
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