I want to start this blog with a section of a poem by Dylan Thomas. It goes like this:

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

The subject of death is highly emotive for people for obvious reasons. Do we go anywhere? If so, where do we go? How will I die? Will the people I leave behind be ok? The list of existential questions could go on and on. I once heard death being described as “being forced to leave the party before you’re ready to go” which resonated with me. My curiosity regarding death peaked recently: consciously as a result of my Grandma’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, and perhaps subconsciously because of an increasing awareness of my own mortality. 

As much as I can, I use the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the future as an incentive. It provides me with the motivation to get up and pursue the things I love, to tell people I love them and to take chances. It’s not always easy to do so, in fact it can feel like the hardest thing to do especially during times of grief, but as we’re guaranteed death then I want to experience life as much as possible.

I don’t know what happens when we die, but I do know that dying ensures I spend as much of my time as possible living.