The biggest irony of human understanding is that we know that we are going to die one day but don’t accept it.
The truth doesn’t sink in.
We live as if death is something that happens to others while we will continue to live for a foreseeable future.
We never talk about death. Especially our own. It is a taboo subject. Not only we don’t talk about it, but we also don’t even think about it. Like a scared kitten, we close our eyes to the only certainty of our lives.
Yet we are all going to die one day.
It is not a matter of doom and gloom but a realization that our time here is limited.
If we continue to waste it, we will never be able to do what we want so much to do.
Do whatever you wanted to do, now. If you sit around and wait for the right time, it might never come.
Feel the urgency. Now or never.
If you don’t know what you want to do, find out.
You are sent here as a human being with far more intelligence than any other species. Don’t just be content with earning a living and raising children. Even animals do that. Make your life count.
Figure out what you can do to make his world a better place than how you found it whether by planting trees, cleaning streets, writing books, feeding the hungry, protecting endangered animals or any cause worthy of your attention.
If you need a constant reminder of the inevitability of death, read obituaries.
Obituaries aren’t about death; they are about the life of the person. “The sum of every obituary is how heroic people are, and how noble,” writes artist Maria Kalyan.
Reading about people who are dead and did things with their lives makes you want to get up and do something with yours.
Steve Jobs said,
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fears of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.”
Has Steve Jobs’s statement made you stop and think? Have you found a way to leave the world a bit better than how you found it? Want to share here to inspire others?
Drop me a line in the comments section below.