You Are Not Your Legacy

/ follow-up from previous post: The Deception of a Significant Life.

My family and I have based ourselves in Melbourne for the last four months.

And almost every morning, I work at Dead Man Espresso (a cafe near my apartment).

I hold meetings there, and even organise a weekly meet-up.

My wife, as well as a friend I once met for coffee there, refuse to mention the name of the cafe in our conversations.

Somehow, we (as a society) don’t like any association with death. And understandably so.

But the name of the cafe is one of the main reasons I make it my place of work.

We’re all dead men by some point. Consider that we’re all appointed to die — at least die in this physical, human realm.

Life is fleeting and temporal. And that constant reminder enables me to keep getting over myself.

I recently participated in a coaching seminar, and the speaker said — “You don’t have to have your life together to stand for something big.”

So true.

I’m surrounded by people who will — when they pass on from this earth, leave tremendous legacies.

And this is so inspiring.

But what’s truly freeing — is realising that I’m not my legacy.

I’d like to leave one. But for better or worse. I’m not my legacy.

And understanding that — gives me permission to try, and fail, and live. And die.