What Would You NOT Do If You Were Forced to Pursue Your Dream?
The Curation Series: The Blessing of a Death Sentence
On The Usefulness of Death
I used to hate talk about death and dying.
My dad’s side of the family always brought it up and it drove me crazy.
The aunts, uncles and grandparents would laugh and joke about where they were going to be buried and what songs they wanted played at their funerals.
When my grandfather died, my grandmother had her name and birthdate carved on the headstone next to his name. I was so angry and sad that I called and told her how I felt. I was crying through my admonishing words.
By putting her name on the headstone, it felt like she was just asking to die — like she was denying life and any years she had left would be as if she was already dead.
That’s probably how I had always felt about death — that it was a denial of life.
But somewhere along the line, it occurred to me that accepting death is not a denial of life…
Accepting Death Actually Enhances Your Life
In Latin, there is a phrase, memento mori, which translates to “remember death” or “remember you will die.”
It was used by Stoics as a reminder that our time is limited, so cherish this moment and focus only on what matters.
“Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.” — Steve Jobs
The problem is, we have very little — if any — awareness that our death is coming. We waste away our attention and our years on petty things, like what people think of us or worse, worries about what the might think of us if we do something we want to do.
We hold ourselves back from pursuing the things we really want because we make up the outcome in our heads.
Then once we accept we’re not moving forward, we distract ourselves.
For too many people, it’s only when they’re told they have X amount of days, weeks or months to live that they actually feel they should make ticks on their bucket lists.
Unfortunately by that time, there’s not enough time or they don’t have the energy.
The Decluttering Effect of a Gun to the Head
As macabre as it is, I try regularly to imagine someone has put a gun to my head and is forcing me to pursue my dreams.
Even darker, I almost wish it would happen. I know that’s screwed up, but it is in fact, no different from the reality I already face.
There is a gun to all of our heads. It just goes off at different times for each of us.
A gun to the head is immediate. It’s violent. It’s visceral. It’s happening now, which means it forces you to remember that your life is happening now.
And in this moment, there is no time to lose. You have no time to think of the argument you got into or even what you want to eat. You must act…NOW.
Enter Tyler Durden.
What You Don’t Do Is as Important as What You Do
“No fear. No distractions. The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.” — Edward Norton, ‘Fight Club’
It’s painful not to become who you are supposed to become.
That’s why we distract ourselves.
This distraction eventually leads to anxiety, depression, bitterness, loneliness, etc.
If you had a gun to your head and were told that in 6 weeks, you would die if you were not on your way to pursuing your dream, chances are that those distractions would all fall away immediately.
Everything that didn’t move you closer to your dream would be hacked away.
This is especially important if you’ve lost sight of what it is you love to do. Just get rid of all the things you don’t like or that distract you and that picture will gradually become clearer.
Do this now. You cannot waste anymore time.
Like Raymond K. Hessel, you are under the threat of death.
So don’t waste the little time you have on what doesn’t matter.
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This article is Day 22 of the 30-Day Fishbowl Series
You can start the series by clicking HERE.
