Since then, and throughout 2024, I’ve had this dense dark cloud looming over me, and every time a get a chance to look up, I’d see it there, constantly reminding me of my own inevitable demise.



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The most surprising part was that the concept of dying really wasn’t anything new to me, I mean, I see it in movies, series, news and stories from friends and family all the time, but somehow, my mind never internalised it.



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I was just living under this illusion that somehow death is only something that happens to other people, and not to me.

This whole concept really hit me like 3 tons of bricks; this idea that, everything as I know it, will all just abruptly end, and that there is absolutely nothing I can do about it.


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No perspectives, no healthy diet, no amount of exercise or supplements will allow me to be excluded from nature’s rhythm.



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Coming to terms with all of this has been taking quite a bit of time, and after about a year of active processing, I feel like I’ve come to a point where I’ve found enough perspectives to help me be a bit more at peace, ease and focused about the whole thing.



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Here are three that I would like to share with you:

A perspective from Alan Watts (←the music & video is pretty heavy, but the message is solid) really helped me with this one:



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If we were all to live forever, the whole thing would become rather overcrowded, and that, when one person dies, it’s in a way honourable, because we’re making room for others to get to experience this miraculous event of life.



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He also offers a second perspective about having children, and that, when you have children, you’re basically able to pass the torch, so you don’t have to carry it all the time.



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There comes a point where you can just pass it on, and say, “now you work”.



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This way nature gets to continue its game:


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with each new individual that approaches life, life is renewed.

In my research, I’ve found quiet a few cases of people who have been declared dead for a couple of minutes to hours, who have somehow managed to make it back, and they all describe their experience in the same way: 



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As the most peaceful thing they have ever felt in their entire existence.



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Some have even described struggling with adapting to being alive again after having had such an ultimate and final peace.



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Mark Twain also had a pretty cool perspective on the topic:

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“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

There’s this paralysing idea that life will be flashing by in a blink of an eye, and that it’ll all be over before you know it.



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An alternative, and very helpful perspective was offered by one of the Roman Stoics, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (49AD), in his book ‘On the shortness of life’:

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“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested.



‍‍But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing.


So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.”

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When you realise that it all comes to an end, it really brings priorities into sharp focus.



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Stuff like “I’m late for that meeting!” or “what are they going to think about my hair?” really just starts seeming so inconsequential.



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All that really starts to matter, is prioritising doing what you love, with those you love - that shit’s priceless.

After having worked through this, I actually feel quite a lot more energised and at peace than ever before.



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There’s no need to fight anything anymore, I can just settle into nature’s rhythm and enjoy the time I have.



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It also doesn’t mean that I’ll be living recklessly as a means of coping.



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I’ve just realised that I have a finite amount of time, and for that time, I’ll be prioritising my health and positive experiences with friends, family and loved ones.



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I think ultimately its about taking stock of what you have, increasing positive experiences, and savouring the things that are most important to you during your one-in-a-gazillion-chance that you got to be alive and experience all of this.