Use the “Deathbed Exercise” to Lead a More Fulfilling Life
Facing the inevitability of death is crucial to living with purpose
Death is coming for all of us, whether we like it or not. One day, you wonder if you’ll ever be a proper adult, and the next, it seems, you’re wondering where those lines on your face came from, and maybe realize everyone is just winging it with this whole life thing.
If we don’t acknowledge the brevity of life, we risk living on autopilot, missing out on opportunities, connections, adventures, and living our most fulfilling lives.
If you mistakenly think you’ll live forever, you’ll keep putting off those creative projects, postponing that vacation, and saying, “ahh, I’ll get ’em next time.” Essentially, you’ll keep chickening out because you’ll convince yourself you have unlimited “next times.” I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you don’t. You have a finite number of “next times.”
You don’t have to go streaking in your neighborhood or spell out “I love you” in rose petals on your crush’s lawn, but if you are sincerely and deeply compelled to do something like that, well, you’re gonna die, so do it while you have the chance.
I’ve been regularly consulting my death-bed self for years, since in the moment, our problems can get blown out of proportion. Fifty years of…
