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80 years. That's roughly the life expectancy in germany and other developed countries. ¹ If you manage to survive childhood, that's the average age you're supposed to hit. To get old presupposes that you don't die early, but what are the chances of that?¹ Turns out, in germany, the probability of this would be ~10 percent, ~13.5 for men and ~6.5 for women. ² Those are the numbers for the adult mortality rate, the probability of death between ages 15 and 60, given a survived childhood. Of course you do have some influence on our life expectancy and risk of early death. Diet and exercise can add a few years, while heavy drug use can subtract a few. But we are not in control.
Memento mori is an old stoic tradition to regularly remind yourself of your mortality.
"Memento mori" is latin and can be translated to mean "remember your death".
I initially planned to write about memento mori's role as a sustainable motivator.
But the more I ponder the concept the more I'm coming to the conclusion that it's a balancing force instead.
To be lazy is to waste life by virtue of doing nothing of meaning.
But when we prioritize productivity above all else we loose sight of the present moment.
In pondering our mortality we can more clearly align ourselves with our purpose.
You are not the only one to be subject to death, the lives of the people you love are just as impermanent.
Thus we should cherish their presence while it lasts, which I find to be especially true for friends.
When we finish a chapter in our life, say by graduating or moving cities, it can be difficult to stay in touch.
And even if we manage to stay in touch with a good friend, we won't be able to spend nearly as much time together as we could back when our shared environment was more conducive.
This post was incredibly hard to write, yet very satisfying to finish.
I hope you can take something away from my perspective.