A Morbidly Motivational Take on Fatalism
If you’re not dead, it’s for a reason.
DISCLAIMER: This is not a long term fix for motivation. This is to get you pumped, to get you going for the next hour, the next day, maybe even the next week. Whatever it may be, note that this is not a forever solution. HOWEVER, I strongly recommend you seek out a fully fleshed out methodology soon. I’ll leave a list of “forever solution” style books at the bottom of this article.
First thing’s first.
If you’re reading this right now, a number of rather optimistically morbid things are true:
- You have not been fatally hit by a car.
- You have not been fatally hit by a train.
- You have not been murdered.
- You are not being kidnapped (I hope).
But most importantly…
You are alive right now.
What happened to talking about fatalism?
To start off, if you don’t know what fatalism is, fatalism is the worldview that every event that has happened — and will happen — has already been pre-determined and is therefore inevitable. Fatalism is centred around having an external locus of control, the feeling or idea that you are unable to control the outcome of events in your life — for a more philosophical debate on the idea of free will, click here.
So while you might believe that the concept of “destiny” is hocus pocus, if you’re a believer of free-will that feels like the world is spiralling out of your hands, that your existence is completely and utterly pointless at this very second… this is also for you. However, having this sort of external locus of control is another, bigger problem in itself that deserves to be addressed in another article, and with care.
You might be wondering, “if there’s some better long-term solution out there, why are you telling me about this quick fix? Aren’t you just making it worse?”
The reason is simple. Changing your worldview is tough. Like, really tough. Our worldviews are shaped by years of experience, potentially traumatic hardship and/or environmental conditioning. And when there’s a pile of work on your table due the next morning or you feel yourself on the brink of hopelessness, you don’t have energy or the time to go through hours of proper reflection or therapy. You need something to pull you back into focus now.
That’s what this is for.
So, what’s your point?
Now back to that list up above. If you believe in fate, then certainly all of those horrific non-happenings are for a reason. Actually, if any of those things have happened and you’ve still managed to be here, I would say (even as a non-believer of fatalism), you are definitely here for a reason.
Uhh, but what if I die tomorrow?
Okay, so maybe you’re still not convinced. Maybe you’re thinking, so what? If I die tomorrow, that’s only one more day. What the hell am I supposed to do in the span of one day? — But if you are convinced, feel free to jump to the next heading 🙃)
You’re right. You’re not going to change the world in one day. Maybe you’ll make a friend laugh, write a cool article, and if you’re lucky, you’ll suddenly come up with the most genius business idea ever. But even then, 24 hours alone is probably not enough time to make anything revolutionary happen. Like the saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
But let’s roll with that train of thought for a second.
I might die tomorrow… and if that’s the case, anything I do now is futile… therefore, I just shouldn’t do anything! Makes sense right?
WRONG.
Here’s the problem with that logic. If with every waking moment that passes you think, “ugh what’s the point? I might die tomorrow”, you will end up accomplishing nothing. Absolutely nothing. It doesn’t matter whether fate decides to give you a day, a week, a month or even a decade. Because if you’re still convinced that whatever you do on any given day is futile, then it doesn’t matter how much time you have. 0 multiplied by anything is still 0.
Instead of constantly thinking, “what if I die tomorrow?”, you should be thinking, “what if I don’t die tomorrow?” So that if you do 1 thing today, then tomorrow it’ll become 2 things, then 3 things, then four things, and before you know it, 365 x 1 is a heck of a lot more than 365 x 0. (That’s 365 vs 0, just in case you weren’t in the mood for math.)
The reality is, you don’t know when you’re going to die, but what you do know is that you aren’t dead right now. This is a chance for you to do something, anything at all. It doesn’t matter if fate follows you around screaming, “you’re here for a reason!” if you refuse to believe it.
So believe it.
Because even if fate decides to give you this chance, it’s up to you to take it.
We’ll keep this short and sweet.
My point is: there are an infinite number of things, both simple and convoluted, that could have brought you to your death this very moment. But you haven’t been brought to your death, at least not yet.
So if you’re here — right here, right now, breathing and able — the universe is telling you it’s not time to die yet. To which I say…
Go be alive.
Go do something. Go make the world worth living. Make the world a place you’d want to live in if you were given another day.
Fate will take care of the rest.
Some quality “forever solution” style resources:
- The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck — Mark Manson
- Everything is F*cked — Mark Manson
- Atomic Habits — James Clear
- CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy)
