The danger of waiting for last-minute plot twist

We all love a last-minute plot twist, especially when we’re watching movies. Against all odds, the hero unexpectedly saves the day, making everything perfect just in time for the credits to roll.

It’s dramatic and it’s satisfying. It’s also a theatrical device known as deus ex machina—a sudden resolution that ties up loose ends in a way that almost feels too good to be true.

But what if I told you that these last-minute plot twists don’t just happen in movies? They happen in real life, too—especially in my work with hospice patients.

The Last-Minute Redemption

Take, for example, a man I’ll call Joe. I met Joe 20 years ago when I was a hospice volunteer. He had grown up in a loud, loving family in which he and his siblings were inseparable. But after their parents passed away, everything changed. A bitter fight broke out over who should inherit the family home, and in the fallout, Joe and his siblings stopped speaking.

Twenty years went by. In that time, Joe built a life of his own: He got married, had children, and created a world completely separate from the siblings he had once cherished. None of his family had ever met them.

Then, Joe was diagnosed with leukaemia. He was dying in an inpatient hospice unit when I met him. By all accounts, Joe was a happy man; he had found peace with his life and even with his death. But there was one thing he couldn’t shake: the unresolved rift with his brother and sister.

So, we called the chaplain. The chaplain reached out to Joe’s estranged siblings, who, by chance, still lived nearby. To everyone’s surprise, they came. In those final days, standing by his bedside, the decades of hurt and resentment melted away. For a brief, precious moment, they were simply siblings again.

And Joe died in peace.

This is the deus ex machina personified: the unexpected resolution, the last-minute reconciliation. It was beautiful, but it also made you wonder: What if this had happened sooner?

Why Waiting for a Plot Twist Is a Bad Plan

Joe’s story had a touching ending, but imagine what could have been if he had reconnected with his siblings 10 years earlier. Or 15 years earlier. Instead of a fleeting moment of reconciliation, they could have had years together—family holidays, shared laughter, time to heal fully—rather than just making peace at the very end.

And this isn’t just about relationships.

It’s about purpose.

It’s about becoming the person you want to be.

It’s about doing the things that truly matter to you.

So many of us live as though we have all the time in the world, putting off the conversations, the changes, and the dreams we long to pursue. We assume that someday, when the time is right, we’ll finally take that leap, mend that relationship, or start living the life we really want.

But here’s the truth: We are dying from the moment we are born. And none of us know how much time we have left.

The Danger of Delayed Living

We tell ourselves that we’ll chase our dreams later.

That we’ll repair broken relationships later.

That we’ll prioritize what truly matters later.

But later isn’t guaranteed. And by the time we finally decide to act, we might be standing at the very edge of our own mortality, hoping for a last-minute resolution.

Don’t wait for the deus ex machina to save you.

Yes, as a hospice doctor, I’ll do everything in my power to help my patients find meaning and closure in their final moments. But wouldn’t it be so much better to live a life in which you don’t need a dramatic, last-minute twist? Wouldn’t it be better to address what’s unfulfilled now—while you still have the time to truly enjoy the results?

Today Is Your Best Chance

If something is tugging at your heart—if there’s a part of you that feels unfinished, unfulfilled, or unresolved—don’t push it off for another day. There will never be a perfect time to start.

Want to repair a broken relationship? Start today.

Want to do something that feels deeply purposeful? Start today.

Want to become the person you’ve always dreamed of being? Start today.

If you wait for life to hand you the perfect moment, you may find yourself with barely any time left to appreciate it.

Live a Life That Doesn’t Need Fixing

You don’t have to live your life like a movie, waiting for some dramatic resolution to swoop in at the eleventh hour. You have the power to start rewriting your story right now.

Live so that, when your final moments do come, you don’t need a last-minute plot twist to find peace.

Live so that you already have it.