Chapter 40: Mortality

Dear reader

If you're reading this, you're amazing. And you can read. Congrats on both ;). Haha, come here, give me a cuddle.

Recently I visited a hospital ward catering to the elderly, some of whom were in very frail and poorly conditions. While this is a fact of life, and one that we must realize, there is another side to everything. Accepting our mortality, while dark, is also empowering.

We do not have to dwell on death. We only to have to know that one day it will arrive. Knowing about your own mortality can make you sensitive to your own body; your own life. You feel the blood in your veins, the warmth of your beating heart, the air entering your lungs; the energy at your fingertips. For me, it is excitement. We are alive, and there is so much to be happy about right now.

Right now is the present moment. Embracing death is embracing the now. It is living every moment as if it were your last. It is embracing yourself and saying: there is much to do, to explore and to experience. Many people are too concerned with "surviving" life or "coping"  that they forget about "living". As I mentioned before, it is not the destination that matters but the journey. Life is obviously cruel, fragile and unmerciful to everyone who walks it. Yet instead of being powerless to the things that are out of our control, be positive for what you do control: your own life.


It is fundamentally your choice with what you do with your life. Above all, show it respect. It is a cliché to say this: but you only have one. No-one can give you another. Going to that hospital reminded me that health is everything. Your body is the vehicle in which you must live your life. Forget about your car, or your bike. Your body is what needs to be maintained. Our youth especially, have bad habits from a culture that doesn't care about their happiness, but the money they spend on things they don't need. Am I saying that we shouldn't have fun? No. Live your youth out to the very best that you can, and have no-one tell you otherwise. Yet we can do this without a cigarette in our hand, and a bottle of tequila on our table. We can do this without having to bitch and moan about useless things.

Quite frankly there isn't time for those things. There is just too much to do in this life, too much to see and experience. Many people succumb to the fear of death. Death itself is celebrated in the media. Our generation has become immune to not not just hearing about it, but also seeing it. The news talks of death every single day, generating fear. The films and television seem to enjoy killing off characters for entertainment, and the video games nowadays are not video games, if they don't have the option to kill something. Yes, culture is not our friend. Yet we don't have to make it our enemy either. All of these things make you afraid of death, yet death is not a man in a dark cloak. Rather, death is a necessary road, one that we have to embrace, rather than run away from. 

The more that you accept it, and stop dressing it in black, (like the funerals and gothic scene), the more you can appreciate your own life. The more you can be free of fear. You realize that because we only have one life, anything is possible. Breaking out of the shell that society puts you in, and forgetting what everyone else thinks of you. You suddenly realize that if you wanted to run up to someone and give them a compliment and a hug, or call someone you liked beautiful, there is literally nothing to lose: only to gain. Fear of rejection is non-existent. You realize that your life is not hinged on someone else's opinion. Instead of worrying about tomorrow, or regretting yesterday: you smile at the now. You smile because you realize, if there is something that you wanted to do, this life is the only time in which you can do it. There is no time for fear. It really is that simple :).

Death to life, is like the moon to the sun. It is in those darkest moments, that we can see our light. They say that when it comes, your whole life flashes before your eyes. Tell me dear reader: what do you want to see flashing before you?

Have a great weekend :)