The 3 Most Important Truths in Life
The only things that matter.
Let’s cut the shit. Life’s short. I’ll be 36 tomorrow, and — if I’m being candid — although life’s felt like it’s lasted forever, it’s gone by in a blink.
At my age, I’ve probably only got another 12 World Cups left at most before they scatter my ashes over Niagara Falls. You may not have much longer. I don’t say this to depress you — I say this to challenge you: What are you going to do with those few remaining precious decades?
First, acknowledge that if you’re reading this, you’re probably doing okay. Say thank you. For indoor plumbing. 24/7 access to electricity. A paycheck. A full stomach. All your senses in full working order. Not everyone has that.
Second, it’s time to assess your priorities. It’s the human condition to wander and wonder about what really matters in this world. What’s worth worrying about? What’s worth doing? How do we maximize a finite set of time, attention and energy?
There’s a saying I like to use in my professional life: Your inbox is not your to-do list. Things will cry out to you each day, from all directions, “Fix me.” “I need this.” “I want you to …” and if you spend your entire life trying to level up, measure up or get even, you’ll never arrive at your fullest, truest self. You must develop a filter to focus in on what matters and cut out the bullshit. In my life, I’ve stumbled upon three universal, inevitable truths that instill a sense of urgency yet allow me to relax and not try to control too much that doesn’t need controlling. (Except, of course, when I forget them.)
Truth #1: Your health will fail you.
Once your body dies, you die. Even if you believe in a soul, or a heaven or a higher power, your soul will never again assume the form it took when your father and mother miraculously came together to create the shape you take right now. This life is all there is for you. Your mind and body are all you have … take care of them and make the most of them.
Truth #2: You will run out of time.
Once this minute passes, you do not get it back. Once you finish reading this sentence, you can reread it, relearn it, but never relive it. Life minutes are not cell phone minutes — they do not roll over to tomorrow, they do not accumulate interest. Every moment you waste today is a moment you steal from your future. Mind the time that’s in front of you and don’t dwell too much on the past.
Truth #3: Everyone you meet will leave you.
People are not replaceable, nor renewable resources. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. We are all drifting away from the polar caps on our own severed ice shelf. Serve your family, your friends and your community. Be kind. Love deeply. Fight for equality and dignity. Never waste someone’s time, or make someone else accountable for your own happiness. Give others the respect that you someday wish to earn. Everyone you meet will leave you. Make sure they leave you better than when you found them.
Health, time and people are the only three things in this world that cannot be retrieved once they’re gone. Sure, you could construe this as dark and fatalist, but it’s also liberating. Health, time and people are the most precious nouns on this planet. How you honor them defines how your life generally goes — they are what really matter. Everything else is just inbox.
Money? You can always make more.
Someone do you dirty? Spare the revenge fantasies. What the tree remembers, the ax forgets. (Remember … everyone leaves. Let the bad ones excuse themselves from the main cast.)
Your hashtag personal brand? Inbox. Social media is a micro-imperialism — a race where even if you’re winning influence, you’re no closer to filling your existential loneliness.
Your credit sucks? Ask someone who can’t escape the lonesome sorrow of never leaving their hometown, sharing a home with someone they felt pressured to marry but couldn’t love, spending their 9-to-5 at a soulless dead-end job, never learning to play the piano or ride a horse. Ask them how many fucks they give about their sparkling 820.
Run every last mile. Eat more vegetables. Squeeze every last drop of laughter. Explore every last inch of this earth. Call your dad. Stuff every sweet moment, savory bite, special someone into every superlative second. This is all we have. Let it wash over you like a warm breeze or a saltwater wave.
Your humanity matters. Your health matters. Your freedom matters. Shout it and live it out loud.
The rest is inbox. Video game numbers. Pretend high scores in a game that doesn’t exist.
Your breath will expire — live moments that leave you breathless, it’s good practice. All these things you do that slowly siphon your health, isolate your soul or light your hours on fire matter not. Those who wait for bullshit to arrive will always believe their lives to be filled with bullshit. Those who rage against the tragic inevitability of their own demise with love, vibrancy and compassion will find their lives filled with all the endless blue between every dark cloud.
Your health will fail you.
You will run out of time.
Everyone you meet will leave you.
This doesn’t mean that nothing matters. It means that how you honor your health, time and humanity is all that ever will.
