This weekend I helped move my wife’s grandmother into a nursing home. She has been living in an assisted living center for the last few years, but she fell and broke her hip recently. After the surgery, she was moved to the home for rehabilitation. The reality is, she may never leave.

I was surprised at my discomfort as I walked into the facility. The smells, the elderly and infirm sitting in wheelchairs hardly moving. The whole atmosphere made me feel anxious and nauseous, and scared and sad. It was all a reminder of my own short time on this planet. In just the blink of an eye, I will be in that place. There will come a time, and it is only 50 or so years down the road, when I will be unable to feed myself, or unable to use the bathroom without assistance. I am mortal. I will pass away and decay, and eventually be just a memory.

The question is how do I, how do we all, deal with the issue of mortality? How do we live our lives in light of the fact that we are going to die? If you believe in an afterlife, then you may welcome death as the next step in your personal journey. But even then, your mortality must have some effect on your actions here while you live.

For me, this was a providential visit. It is an experience that I can use to motivate and encourage me to focus on the important things in life. I know it sounds trite, but life is short, and I only have a limited amount of time to do everything I want to do. The world is large and filled with opportunity. I need to be out there living life, not sitting in front of the television, or hiding out behind my computer. I know you probably don’t need these kinds of experiences to keep you focused. But I do. As I try to grow and become the person I envision in my head, I need every bit of help I can get to keep me moving forward.

At thirty, man suspects himself a fool, Knows it at forty, and reforms his plan; At fifty, chides his infamous delay, Pushes his prudent purpose to resolve, In all the magnanimity of thought; Resolves, and re-resolves, then dies the same. And why? because he thinks himself immortal, All men think all men mortal but themselves.
–Edward Young

This entry was posted on Monday, August 27th, 2007 at 8:20 pm and is filed under motivation, mortality, fear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed, bookmark the Permalink in your Browser, leave a response, or trackback from your own site.