No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
These words by the late Steve Jobs give me knots in my stomach. Consider this man and how he left this existence. As I think of him, I find myself considering my own existence and my desperate - albeit vain - desire to make an impact on the world around me. I am a songwriter. I need an audience to thrive. It is endlessly rewarding to play a good show. It is hopelessly daunting to imagine what it will take to be valid/lucky enough to make a living doing this thing that I love.
Death takes everyone. Even the icons.
I hope that one day I, too, will discover what I am meant to become.
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