We all die, and in the grand scheme of things it happens very quickly. This is the one uncomfortable truth we're all hiding from, and when faced with it head-on many simply lose hope. Very soon we're all going to be gone forever. No more time to enjoy a sunset, a quiet pensive moment, the company of those who love us. But don't let that get you down. We have work to do. We have a legitimate shot at lasting forever.
There Is Much More Death Than Life Waiting for Us
When we say that life is short, sometimes it's hard to conceptualize just how short it is. Most of us spend the first couple of decades just figuring out who we are and what we want to do, and the last couple decades winding down towards our inevitable expiration. This leaves a good 40 or so years for those of us fortunate enough to not have our lives cut off early. Between learning skills, dealing with relationships, finding purpose, and so on, very little of that time is at peak performance in terms of leaving behind something lasting. And after our time is up, untold millennia will continue to pass. The moment of time a human being can claim on this planet is but a blip. Blink and you'll miss it.
Athletes already have an amplified sense of the shortness of their lives. A typical athletic performance window is half as long, or shorter, than for other careers, with a true peak lasting only a few short years. Most athletic legends had only an extremely small amount of time to make enough of an impact that future generations will remember their achievements long after they're gone. But we're all like this. We're all athletes, struggling to make a splash before being yanked from the world stage forever. The sooner we recognize this, the more meaningful and fulfilling our lives can be.
Struggle Amplifies Legends
One of the most heartbreaking and discouraging realizations that can dawn on us is that we have little time and opportunity to work with. It's easy to be optimistic about a beautiful future when there's so much ahead, so much potential, so few limitations. But when we come into focus later in life, or grow up economically disadvantaged or in a country with little opportunity, or have a physical or mental disability, it can seem like the doors to legend status remain firmly closed.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Disadvantage creates struggle, and struggle provides focus and work ethic like nothing else can. People without struggle in their lives are actually the disadvantaged ones, impaired by their own comfort and resulting lack of clarity. Pitting a disadvantaged person against a prosperous one is like holding an obstacle course race while giving one contestant several shots of liquor before starting. The contestant born of struggle will seem fast, explosive, and sharp compared to the sluggish and confused counterpart who never fully grasped why exactly they want what they want, and how hard they have to work in order to get it. The problem is, so many children of struggle see the difficulty in front of them and give up beforehand, not giving themselves a shot to become exceptional. But if they do engage wholeheartedly, they're a legendary force to be reckoned with.
What's more, struggle imparts a significant narrative advantage. Legends aren't remembered solely for their achievements, but their story. Accomplishment means little without context. The more incredible setbacks and shortcomings one must overcome on the path to greatness, the more untouchable their legend status becomes. "Against all odds" is the story of humanity, and our legacy as a species is written with the quill of overcome struggles.
Children Seek Heroes to Admire
Lasting impact is commonly created by furthering the species, by producing offspring. The easiest action for one to take when desperate to last longer than their remaining years is to have children, who will carry on their memory after they're gone. On its own, however, this is like treading water. Living an unremarkable life and producing another generation of unremarkable lives is an endless cycle of lost time. Children look to heroes to show them how to act, what they can become, and how to do it. The most immediate heroes are parents, but I know for a fact that I've looked up to so many more than that in my life, and drawn inspiration from them in my own quest to build something permanent. Legends build other legends as much as they build their own legacy, and there's no greater way to solidify your immortality than to be credited as a legend by a future legend in their own lasting work.
Immortality Can Only Be Touched By Legends
Eternal life is not real. While our consciousness may go somewhere after we're rotting in the grave, our bodies and our participation on this planet are permanently over once they're over. The only way we're guaranteed to carry on is through becoming one with the soil and feeding the next wave of life. But to stand out as more than plant food, we have to do something truly remarkable. We have to build something, do something, save something, protect someone, create something that people will use and remember after we're gone. Creating another generation of children is the most basic way of doing this, but the memory of the fallen dies with said offspring. The only way to live forever is to become a legend.
The memorial wall of human history is composed of endless bricks representing human lives. Some are of different sizes and shapes than others, but most are the same drab and indistinguishable color. Paint a beautiful picture on yours so that observers will stop and admire it for a while. Live forever. Become a legend.
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