you are going to die...

I know… harsh way to start an email.

It’s an extremely uncomfortable topic, but it’s also important we talk about it…
You are going to die, and there’s no stopping it.

Probably not today, most likely not tomorrow. Hopefully decades from now. But the outcome does not change. It’s inevitable.

One day will be your last.

And the real issue is, most days we live like we have forever.

But we are all going to die.

And I’m not saying that to shock you. I’m saying it because it’s the most honest sentence I can write to you. And because it is the one truth we all quietly avoid.

Maybe you have 70 years left.
Maybe 7.
Maybe even less than you think.

You don’t know.
I don’t know.
No one does.

And that uncertainty isn’t dark.

It’s refreshing.

Here is what experience has taught me.

Remembering that your time is limited is not depressing. It’s freeing.

The problem is that most people reject that awareness.

We distract ourselves.
We scroll.
We tell ourselves we will start when life slows down.

We behave as though time is renewable.

When you assume you have endless tomorrows, you delay what matters today.

You postpone the conversation.
You hesitate on the idea.
You wait for the perfect season.

And slowly, “later” becomes a habit.

Not because you lack ambition.
Because you believe you have more time than you do.

You don’t.

None of us do.

I learned this in a way I wasn’t prepared for.

I watched someone close to me live with the very real understanding that their time was limited.

There was no dramatic speech. No grand declarations.

Just quiet intentionality.

He didn’t waste mornings.
He stopped holding grudges over trivial things.
And he definitely didn’t scroll for hours on end.

Every ordinary day mattered because tomorrow wasn’t promised.

Not loudly. Not theatrically.

Simply because it was not guaranteed.

Watching that changed me. Because that truth applies to us all… sick or healthy.

And once you truly understand this, failure stops feeling so heavy. Because the real failure isn’t falling short. It’s never attempting what matters.

Waiting for perfect timing begins to look foolish. Because perfect does not arrive before the end.

Wasting hours on meaningless distractions starts to feel absurd. You start questioning yourself… how you spend your time.

That perspective stays with you.

As long as you let it…

Here is the uncomfortable part.

Even if this resonates right now, it is easy to forget.

Tomorrow morning, your phone will light up.
Your calendar will fill.
Your routines will resume.

The world is engineered to keep you consuming, not creating. Reacting, not deciding.

You feel the quiet tension between who you are and who you could become.

You know you should start. Speak up. Build. Learn. Repair.

And yet… you hesitate.

That gap isn’t a lack of intelligence.

It’s awareness without action.

And that is where most people stay stuck.

You can’tdepend on motivation to live intentionally.

Motivation fades.
Energy fluctuates.
Days blur.

But perspective changes decisions.

When you remember that this hour will never return, you choose differently.

You take the risk.
You make the call.
You stop postponing your growth.

The people who reach the end of their lives with fewer regrets are not the ones who ignored death.

They’re the ones who allowed it to guide their priorities.

You are going to die.

That is not the tragedy.

The tragedy is living as though you won’t.

Let that truth focus you.
Let it strip away what doesn’t matter.
And let it make you courageous enough to stop delaying your own life.

You don’t need more time.

You simply need to respect the time you already have.

~ Uncommon Wisdom