As a diabetic, Bret Michaels says he has to fight for survival every day. Between daily insulin shots and hourly blood sugar tests, he keeps a sharp watch on his health, 24-7. "I loss use of my pancreas at 6 years old," Michaels says. "And it is a every day, nonstop battle."
His health challenges don't end there. In recent years, the Poison frontman has undergone an emergency appendectomy, heart surgery and suffered brain hemorrhaging. "Oprah's Lifeclass" invited Michaels to take over Oprah's stage and share his biggest life lessons.
In the above video, Michaels addresses a prediabetic woman in the audience who is looking for advice on moving forward. Michaels tells her he's learned there are two ways to look at life. "From the cradle to the grave -- and I mean this as sincere as I can say this -- you either make a choice that you are living, or you're dying," he says. "It's all in the way you look at it."
Some days will be awful, as Michaels can attest. "But what builds our character is what we do about those days," he says.
Michaels says his family helped him to look at his battle in a different light. "It's just the card I was dealt," he says "And instead of being mad and feeling self-pity and feeling like a victim, I was encouraged by my parents to work hard and move forward in my life and not be a victim. And it really helped."
Are you in need of a little reinvention or reinvigoration? Need a little more passion and drive in your life? Watch the full episode of "Lifeclass with Bret Michaels."