“Live, love, smile.” This is the message Nicky Sansone consistently sent out in her final days before she died of cancer earlier this month.

Nicky, 55, knew she had days to live when she accepted an interview with Times of Malta to share and explain her message.

She had just been moved into palliative care at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre, when, sitting in her hospital bed attached to life-saving equipment, she spoke about why she started the process of recording her life with cancer on TikTok.

She used her channel to urge people to check out any cancer symptoms immediately. But she also wanted to shock people into stopping and thinking – about their lives and their mortality. She wanted to drive home the importance of living, loving and smiling.

They are three simple words, with far-wider meanings.

Live: In her own words, Nicky said many people exist on a treadmill of life-work-life-work.

“They forget to live. The world has become so sad. Enjoy life. Stop fighting. Stop complaining. Live. People worry about such stupid things,” she said.

Many of us can relate to this. We live a rushed life heading towards goals often set by society, by the pressures accentuated on social media.

Is what we are doing making us happy? Are we truly living the life we want or simply existing and consuming day after day?

Most of us are bent on complaining and worrying about things beyond our control.

Nicky underlined the importance of living, not existing. To live “second by second” and surround ourselves with the people who matter.

Love: Up until her very last breath, Nicky surrounded herself with close relatives and friends. Many of her friends spoke about how deeply she knew how to love. And how she accepted and embraced people’s individuality. This is a page many should take from her book.

We often try to fit in – at the expense of being true to ourselves – or want others to conform. We fail to see the beauty of diversity.

Allowing ourselves, and others, to be who they truly are can lead to a shift: from living a life based on expectations to living a life based on honesty. And the latter is the fastest path to true happiness.

Smile: One of the most touching moments of Nicky’s videos was a clip where she urged her friends to smile, even though they all knew she only had days to live.

Many friends, and Nicky herself, spoke about her difficult childhood. She spoke about battling a drinking problem and the loss of her beloved father. But friends also spoke about her sense of humour and mischievous side.

Nicky had a choice: wallow in sadness or try to drive something positive out of tragic situation. Despite the pain, she chose to try to keep smiling and drown out all the negative noise.

“In my posts, I tried to be as positive as possible telling people to enjoy life and never take it for granted. You never know what’s around the corner,” she said.

She knew what was around her corner, so she threw a party to celebrate life. She held on to life until her friends and family told her it was okay to let go.

All this – her passion for life and her ability to love deeply – led to one final act of love towards humanity: her message.

Even in her last TikTok video shared the day before she died, she made it a point to broadcast: Live. Love. Smile.