Life Begins At Death
I had an interesting thought of late… well, not really of late, this thought has brewed around in my head for a while now and I just decided to put it into words.
Ever heard of stories where people discover they’re about to die in 40 days and they start to discover life by doing everything they’ve never tried before? Bungee jumping, skydiving, confessing to that girl, getting laid, trying new foods, travel, give/help more people, seeking forgiveness, et cetera.
Well, they’ve just been given a “Deadline” in their life. So, to turn back the clock a bit… I had initially thought that “Life Begins With A Deadline” – but thought that it was in its raw state… so I never did use it except in a Twitter post (which I can’t find anymore).
We all know that death is a part of life and while there are still many people with a fear of death, I believe this is what helps some of them to truly live life.
Let’s take this “new age” concept down to the realm of human talk.
Ever had a deadline when you simply have to hand up a certain piece of work or project? You might not have realized it but it’s exactly because you have that deadline that you can do so much work.
Had a piece of work have no deadline, most likely, you will put it off because you think “I’ll get to it later”. Examples?
- Insurance (Nothing’s going to happen)
- Dating (I’ll ask her next time!)
- Exercise (I’ll get in a program next month)
… and a lot more I cannot possibly list here.
But, imagine if a deadline was suddenly imposed upon you and you find out that you have a disease – you immediately start thinking of the costs it would incur upon you and your loved ones (too late for insurance), you dare to try asking her out for the first & final date (romantic huh?), you probably won’t exercise but if you think that exercise is going to rid you of that disease, you might get into it regularly (and if you have enough time left to fight it!)
However, for most people… they just can’t “self-impose” a deadline upon themselves. That’s why Procrastination exists. If you’ve got a real “deadline”, your procrastination would vanish by itself.
So, if you truly wish to maximize your life and time, utilize deadlines. It’ll make you work faster and more determined towards achieving it. Some people may truly HAVE to have a real deadline before they can do anything… others, can impose it on their own minds.
Many people I know just choose to complain and moan about how uncomfortable and sick they are to other people – they don’t know that they’re adding more sickness to themselves (probably talk about this in another post).
So, want to truly experience life and have the courage to do what you’ve always wanted to do? Get a deadline. Most people avoid pain rather than gain pleasure – so, if you have a deadline with costs to it, you’ll do more to avoid it than try to get the gains of your goals. Okay, let me de-abstract that statement using the example of a man dying soon:
- Dating – If I don’t do it now, I’ll never get to know what she thinks!
- Experience – If I don’t try it now, then when? I’ve always been too scared to try before, there’s nothing to lose even if I fail now.
- Changing – I’ve been a horrible person all my life, now that I’ve been given time to make things right, I’m going to do it.
… and again, so much more I can’t possibly list.