If there were an expiration date stamped on the bottom of your right foot, would you look? Would you want to know when you’re going to die?
It doesn’t take a psychic to predict that no one reading this is going to live forever. At some point, your life is going to come to an end.
For some, it comes too soon. Others live to be one hundred or even older. We never know which we’re going to be.
Do you prioritize, plan, and make the most of your time? Or do you live as if you didn’t have an expiration date?
The truth is, we’re wired to not think about our end (if you’d like to explore this further, check out The Worm at the Core by Tom Pyszczynski, Jeff Greenberg, and Sheldon Solomon. They call this terror management theory). Our internal systems have been built with self-preservation in mind and the thought that we don’t make it out of this alive terrifies us.
But instead of being terrified by death, what if we embrace it?
Was there a time you should have died?
For me, yes, at least one. There was the time I was in the passenger seat of a car driving on icy and snowy roads in Minnesota. I fell asleep and woke up to find myself inches away from a metal post on the median. The car had slid off the highway and spun around a few times. I had been about twelve inches away from death.
Incidents like this gave my life more purpose and urgency. I don’t like to postpone anything. I jump into things with both feet.
The next time I’m floating above my body, I don’t want to feel I’ve left anything undone. I want no regrets. No might-have-beens.
What are you putting off, waiting for all the stars to align? Learning to speak Italian? Going to Italy until you’ve learned Italian? Love? Grad School? Buying sexy lingerie? Opening that $200 bottle of wine in your basement?
All those fun things can peacefully coexist with life’s responsibilities. Don’t wait for Death to pencil you in on his calendar because at that point it’ll be too late.
Life is time-bound. Experience life now while you have the chance.