Memento Mori - Day 5 of #DecemberofDiscipline

Death.

A concept often disregarded until it arrives, unbidden, on our doorstep.

Epictetus said, "Keep death and exile before your eyes each day, along with everything that seems terrible - by doing so, you'll never have a base thought nor will you have excessive desire."

The ancients knew a thing or two about death, and they knew how much they didn't know. It modern times it is common for men and women to do whatever it is that comes into their heads - they live as though they'll never die, seeking only the pleasures of the moment.

They forget that there is much to be done in this life, and every moment spent in hedonistic revelry is one moment not spent on truly living. Some even conflate the two as though they were the same thing.

I think it best to always be aware of our mortality, for any of these moments could be our last. There are things that I have left undone, that should I die tonight, I would regret having left them so.

Chief among these things is not being the man I should have been earlier. I am doing everything I can to rectify that now, but all of the lost time when I should have been leading, teaching, loving - I will forever regret.

Of things I wish I'd done more, there are too many to list. I wish that I'd thought more of death and more of life. I wish I'd spent less time trying to escape life and death. I wish I'd climbed more mountains with my wife, gone to more carnivals, exercised more, took more chances, loved more deeply and enjoyed more fully. I wish I'd lived more.

But there is always an excuse. I regret being irresponsible with money, as the lack of it was often an excuse. I regret beings so fearful, because fear was often my excuse. Always another excuse. I do not remember any of those excuses being all that sturdy. In hindsight, most, if not all, of my reasons for not taking action are invalidated.

Life is short, and fleeting. Today could be your final day; this moment, your final moment. Do not let regret be all that you feel when death does come knocking. When you rise remind yourself that you may not sleep again, and when you go to sleep remember that you may not wake.

As Marcus Aurelius wrote, "You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think."

Sincerely, Me

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