It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
- Marcus Aurelius -
I had reason to be in a cemetery recently and wandered about through the rows of graves, the final resting place for the physical body of what were once people like you and I. There were a mixture of very old and more recent burials and the varying ages of each deceased person made me think about the term of human life and where everyone's lives are going...from the moment of birth.
We're all going to die, no matter how hard a person may try to ignore the fact or try to slow the process the final destination is there, just ahead of the present, and come what may it'll arrive eventually; the reaper gathers all of us eventually.
A morbid thought? Hmm, nope just a reality of life and one of the irreversible guarantees of it.
Here's the good part; we can determine, guide and affect how we get there...and you're not dead yet
The journey towards the inevitable and unchangeable end, death, is something we are able to influence and with a little effort, honesty, ownership, discipline and responsibility we can move ourselves closer to an ideal life and make positive adjustments with that goal in mind. Is it hard? Well yeah sometimes it is, but is it a valid goal to have? Yep, I think so.
I get it, that's not something a person might normally say but with a little extra context it can be a legit phrase and ethos so let me elaborate...
That's better right?
No I don't want to die right now, or even next week or year, but if I do I'll be content that I did so after applying the effort, honesty, ownership, discipline and responsibility elements I mentioned above and through their application I designed and created a life that was as enjoyable, fulfilled and engaged as I could make it with the tools and understanding I had at any given point. It's through deploying the best life and design and create life ethos that I move my life towards what I'd like it to be or look like and it's because I embrace that paradigm that I can look backwards with less, or no, regret; the understanding that it'll all come to an end at some point isn't something I'm afraid of, it's something that motivates me to live better now.
I understand that people have many different opinions and thoughts on this topic and you might like to share yours. If you do, please feel free to comment below. I know where you're going (death), but how are you working towards getting there in better ways and mitigating the risk of looking back with regret on what you didn't do or should have done?
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
[Original and AI free]
Image(s) in this post are my own
