It's Not Morbid

Death. It can be a scary topic for some people. So much so that some people may just ignore it and pretend like it doesn’t exist or they pretend that death won’t happen to them.

Newsflash! It will. Death happens to everyone.

Even you.

Death is a reality. Contemplating death doesn’t mean that you wish death to happen now. Contemplating death is not morbid. In fact, it is healthy.

Death can come at any time. It comes to those who are young and old. It often comes without warning. You’re alive one moment, and gone the next. We say that death takes life away, but death actually gives meaning to life. Death makes you pay attention.

Your life is happening here and now, yet often times, you are not here and now. You are in your mind, thinking about tomorrow, or next month, or next year.

But imagine how present you’d be if you knew you only had the now. That you didn’t get a tomorrow. If you knew that your next breath was your last breath. Would you pay more attention? Would you see that simple flower? Would you appreciate the feel of the breeze? Would you savour the sound of birds in the trees or the sound of your loved one’s voice? If you knew this was your last time to experience this, would you experience it deeper?

Death does not take life away from you, you throw it away. By not being present, by not experiencing this moment, you waste it.

Author Michael Singer puts it perfectly in his book “The Untethered Soul”:

Let’s say you’re living life without the thought of death, and the Angel of Death comes to you and says, “Come, it’s time to go.” You say, “But no. You’re supposed to give me a warning so I can decide what I want to do with my last week. I’m supposed to get one more week.” Do you know what Death will say to you? He’ll say, “My God! I gave you fifty-two weeks this past year alone. And look at all the other weeks I’ve given you. Why would you need one more? What did you do with all those?” If asked that, what are you going to say? How will you answer? “I wasn’t paying attention…I didn’t think it mattered.” That’s a pretty amazing thing to say about your life.

If this was your last day, would that slight against you matter as much? Would that problem you struggle with right now seem as big or important? Would you want to spend your last day angry with someone?

Would you want to spend it worried that death would take you when you didn’t get to live your life? What are you waiting for? If you knew you would die tomorrow, you’d say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done. If you knew you would die tomorrow, you’d live today to the fullest.

In this world today, we see many people so afraid to die. Why? Maybe they are not afraid of “death” itself, they are afraid of never having lived.

I don’t know about you, but when Death comes to take me, I don’t want any regrets. These regrets are not the places I didn’t travel to. They aren’t the adventures I didn’t go on, like skydiving or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. The regret I want to avoid is being afraid to live. I want to avoid wasting my life by not appreciating the moments and experiences I am living right now. By not appreciating what I have, see, taste, hear, feel, touch, hold, love…because I didn’t think it mattered.

Thank you, Death. Oh, Great Teacher.

Don’t wait until your last day to live life fuller and happier. Start today with The 42 Day Choice Challenge!

Here’s to conquering stress,

The Stress Experts