You’re Going to Die
I’m not sure how this one is going to land.
On Saturday, I shared my thinking with a good friend I’m coaching with this year: “Jeez, Reed!”
He then followed up with this quote:
"The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness."
—Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory
Hey, if nothing else, it may get you thinking.
Maybe, like me, we need moments to jolt us out of our stupor.
Last Friday was an interesting morning of swim practice.
And it had nothing to do with 80% of the team being in California for an annual training trip.
We were somewhere in the middle of a warm-up set: 12 X 50 as 25 scull, 25 free on the :55.
It must have been around number 8 or 9 because these are the numbers I remember seeing on the clock:
:11
:12
:13
:14
:15
:16
As I watched the seconds pass by, I had this overwhelming realization that, “you’re going to die.”
My good friend who I’m coaching with called it an existential moment.
I appreciate Stoic philosophy.
One of the daily practices of Stoicism is Momento Mori— or remember that you must die.
As Seneca says, don’t see death as something in the future but, rather, something that is happening right now.
“This is our big mistake to think we look forward toward death. Most of death is already gone. Whatever time has passed is owned by death.”
Happening right now…
:11
:12
:13
:14
:15
:16
For Stoics, Momento Mori is for the purposes of living in the present moment — recognizing that the present is all one truly possesses.
Watching those seconds tick by on Friday brought me out of a stupor.
I had one of the best swim sets I've had in a long time.
And that got me thinking:
What if we all created a little daily reminder of our death?
What if we all practiced Momento Mori on a daily basis?
What if we made this — “You’re going to die!” — a consistent practice.
If that changed the nature of a swim set, I can’t help but wonder how differently we would approach all activities of our daily lives.
That clock at swim practice will never be just an interval clock again.
For me, it will serve as a reminder that “you’re going to die.”
I find a lot of freedom in that.
I hope you do, too.
As Andy Dufresne says to Red, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”
:11
:12
:13
:14
:15
:16
Onward.