"The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we are still living..."
Some time ago, I stumbled across this quote by Norman Cousins – and felt as though it had slapped me across the face.
Like any thirty-something, questions of my own mortality had gradually changed from being an interesting hypothetical to something very real, and very scary.
While the first part of my life had seem filled with new beginnings and first times, the second half looked a bit more dire: I was beginning to realize that there would be last times for everything, too.
And like the typical thirty-something, I had a mild existential crisis about it: had I really lived my life well up until that moment? Had I wasted my youth, and was I possibly wasting my life right this minute?
When I saw this quote, it dawned on me: I wasn’t actually afraid of death itself. How could I be? After all, I wouldn’t be around when it happened. Rather, what I was afraid of was the crushing awareness that I wasn’t living while I actually had the chance.
Living intentionally can be frightening, but it is the foundation of a regret-less, meaningful life. This cannot be emphasized enough: there is no meaning without intention.
This book will be structured around three key steps to cultivating and developing a style of life that is intentional and geared towards deep, personal fulfillment.
I’m sharing these principles with you not because I think they are the be all and end all, but because they have been so useful in my own journey towards a life that really means something.
Some time ago, I stumbled across this quote by Norman Cousins – and felt as though it had slapped me across the face.
Like any thirty-something, questions of my own mortality had gradually changed from being an interesting hypothetical to something very real, and very scary.
While the first part of my life had seem filled with new beginnings and first times, the second half looked a bit more dire: I was beginning to realize that there would be last times for everything, too.
And like the typical thirty-something, I had a mild existential crisis about it: had I really lived my life well up until that moment? Had I wasted my youth, and was I possibly wasting my life right this minute?
When I saw this quote, it dawned on me: I wasn’t actually afraid of death itself. How could I be? After all, I wouldn’t be around when it happened. Rather, what I was afraid of was the crushing awareness that I wasn’t living while I actually had the chance.
Living intentionally can be frightening, but it is the foundation of a regret-less, meaningful life. This cannot be emphasized enough: there is no meaning without intention.
This book will be structured around three key steps to cultivating and developing a style of life that is intentional and geared towards deep, personal fulfillment.
I’m sharing these principles with you not because I think they are the be all and end all, but because they have been so useful in my own journey towards a life that really means something.