I want to convey a very simple yet absolutely sobering truth that dawned on me at a completely random moment walking down some street in my early 20’s(as far as I can remember(or don’t(hmm))). When that truth hit me out of left field the way it did, I was stopped in my tracks, dumbfounded, and suddenly filled with a powerful sense of freedom and understanding. I felt truly liberated. At the same time however, I also felt fear and a sense of urgency.

I’m pretty sure I was thinking about the meaning of life or something like that but basically my train of thought led to the following:
A typical human being lives under 100 years. Once that human is dead it’s forever. The human is dead for eternity. It doesn’t matter whether you do or do not believe in god, reincarnation, etc. That particular human is now gone, PERIOD. So yea life is short and all that but I’m going to take it one step further. If you mathematically compare a human life of 100 years(a very optimistic estimation) to eternal(infinite) death, then it’s like… you’re not even here.

That’s right, taking into account all of time, you’re pretty much not even here right now, not even a blip on the timeline of existence, and that’s quite the sobering realization. I mean seriously, what’s 100 years to infinite. If you take the ratio of 100 to infinite, you either get infinite or 0 depending on what divides what, basically implying that your 100 years of living are nothing compared to endless death. It would seem that life is truly meaningless, nothing matters, and there’s no point or purpose to your measly lifespan, or anyone else’s for that matter.

But that’s not exactly true is it. Sure, mathematically speaking you don’t even exist, but yet you do! You live, feel, and experience life, if only briefly, akin to a flash of light, an instance in the grand flow of time. It’s like a paradox, on one hand you are nothing, yet on the other hand you are a being full of volumes of information. It’s kind of incredible if you think about it, how nothing can be so much if you zoom in close enough. Therefore, life is absolutely the most precious thing you have in your possession, and wasting it should be the biggest sin in the world, only overtaken perhaps by the sin of taking someone else’s life from them. Maybe this is why I hate 9-5 work as much as I do, it’s the ultimate sin, trading away the tiny amount of time you have for a tiny amount of money. Once I had this mathematical epiphany, it is now stuck in my subconscious forever, guiding my every move, providing a sense of urgency to get things done, and a sense of fear when I throw time away.

So to wrap things up, live life to the fullest, don’t waste it on a garbage ass career, don’t sell yourself short, don’t hesitate to do what you want,  don’t dwell on the past, actively shape your future instead of just thinking about it, shoot for the stars, be all you can be, and remember, the time you have left is a truly unique and special resource, and it’ll be over before you know it because face it… you’re not even here.