This post is going to be philosophical. A couple weeks ago I attended a funeral of a girl who passed away due to cancer. She was only 35, one year older than me. It made me really realize something important about fear and worry....there's really nothing to worry/fear compared to the prospect of facing your own death.

One time when I was a kid, I crank called someone leaving really nasty messages on their answering machine. One day when I called again, someone answered the phone and said "if you're that kid who's been calling here you're in big trouble!". I hung up immediately and I must have turned white as a ghost. For the next couple days every time our phone would ring I was shitting bricks thinking it was the police. When I look back I realize how trivial my fears were. The very worst that could have happened was that the police would have contacted my parents and gave me a warning not to do it again. I would have been grounded and probably given a few shots. No big deal but it certainty felt like a big deal at the time. I can remember precisely how I felt that day...how the fear gripped me the way it did. In hindsight, feeling that way was quite unwarranted even if the worst thing would have happened. I think for the most part, when we look back we realize that we got worried and all worked up a lot more than we should have about things that we feared....at the least I can speak for myself

Imagine, God forbid, you're diagnosed with terminal cancer like Antonella was in her mid 30's and told you had less than a year to live. You want to talk about fear? You want to talk about something to worry about? Now that's something to worry about. Everything else is pretty much trivial compared to that. Now, imagine a few months later you're told that by some miracle your cancer had completely vanished. How do you think you would approach life then? What would make you afraid? Nothing. We we should all approach life as if this happened to us. Although we're not doomed to die in a few months we're still doomed to die so what's there really to worry about compared to that? What's more serious than that? Whatever you're afraid or worried about is trivial. Go for it. So what if you fail? So what. You're still alive to see another day and at least when you grow older you won't be in agony wondering what could have been.

Steve Jobs' Stanford Address in 2005 motivated me some and Antonella's unfortunate death motivated me even more. They made me realize that I've been taking my life for granted.  I'm not living up to my full potential. I need to be bolder and not afraid to fail. I need to work harder, I need to spend my time more wisely. I need to live life with much more urgency because my time on this planet is extremely short.

Stop being afraid, stop waisting time, stop complaining and do what you need to do to live up to your full potential and start doing it now...as in right NOW. I'd bet everything that, like I, you're not doing nearly enough.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.  


-Steve Jobs 2005