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Perspective

Hate life? Feeling alone? Tired of being disrespected by Instagram models who won’t reply to your comments? Don’t worry; you’re going to die.

We’re not trying to make you depressed—you have enough on your plate already—we’re simply stating a fact. We can say with 100% assurance that some day (maybe it’s today!) you will expire; so will everyone you know, everyone you love and everyone you hate. Your dog will also die, probably a lot sooner than you think. Death has remained undefeated for the entirety of human history, having beaten something like 108 billion people, plus every insect, bird, mammal, reptile, fish, plant, spore and fungus, too. Sorry, that’s just the way it is.

Maybe we shouldn’t apologize. It’s liberating to acknowledge the fact that all of this will end—not to mention invigorating. It puts most of your (admittedly petty) problems into perspective, and allows you to prioritize your life. What’s the point of staying in a dead-end job, or remaining in a toxic relationship, if both could end tomorrow?

We realize that sounds like some wide-eyed, pseudo-inspirational bullshit, the kind of nonsense spouted by YouTube influencers and motivational speakers. And it is . . . but that doesn’t make the sentiment any less valid. Life is for living, until it’s not, at which point you are dead and you don’t have to worry about anything. In other words, none of this matters. Do what you want to do, when you want to do it. Maybe you can’t just quit your job and travel the world, but you can make the latter your goal and start taking steps to achieve it. That’s called having perspective. Things are terrible, but they don’t always have to be—it’s up to you to make the change.

Because, honestly, what’s the worst that could happen? You’re already guaranteed to end up as a pile of organic matter, so why not make every moment preceding that point count? If you want to ask out that barista, or learn how to hang glide, go for it. If you feel like chasing a paycheck for half a century, do it—just know you can’t take any of that cash with you when you die. Shit, at the very least, put this book down . . . there’s a whole world out there waiting to be discovered. And if you hate all of it, remember this: everything you lay eyes on will eventually be dead. If that’s not inspiring, we don’t know what is.