You Will Realize You Are Dying Before Your Time

[DISCLAIMER]

Photo credit, artist: Don Aguillo, fair use

In childhood, I enjoyed watching Masters of the Universe and ThunderCats—both animated television series featuring a ‘good’ versus ‘evil’ theme. The main antagonist of the former was Skeletor and of the former was Mumm-Ra, both featured in the image above.

Per one source, Skeletor was an “evil demon” and a secondary source claims that Mumm-Ra was a “demon-priest.” As a child, I simply regarded both characters as representative of death (i.e., Skeletor had a skull for a head and Mumm-Ra was a mummy).

Because both of my parents familiarized me with the impermanent and uncertain nature of life at an early age, I didn’t view death as a scary or evil experience. That perspective later informed my approach to mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”) care.

As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

In The Daily Stoic, the authors feature a quote from ancient Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger, taken from is essay De Brevitate Vitae (or On the Brevity of Life, also On the Shortness of Life), contained on page 17 of the book:

How many have laid waste to your life when you weren’t aware of what you were losing, how much was wasted in pointless grief, foolish joy, greedy desire, and social amusements—how little of your own was left to you. You will realize you are dying before your time!

The quote arguably addresses how much of life is squandered while time inevitably passes, as people fail to contemplate that when pursuing pointless endeavors they may eventually realize that they are without a doubt in the process of dying while alive. Therein is fundamental truth.

Each and every single one of us will inescapably die. This isn’t necessarily a scary matter, nor is it to be considered evil in nature. We simply live until we die. Everything occurring in between that paradigm is merely a matter of details. Plausibly, some details matter more than others.

At some point, you will realize you are dying before your time. Given this assertion, what have you done in the interest of purpose and meaning until you inexorably die? Personally, trying to help people improve their mental health is my goal. How about you? What are you doing?

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

Aguillo, D. (n.d.). Art of Don Aguillo [Official website]. Retrieved from https://artofdonaguillo.square.site/

Aguillo, D. (@daguillo84). (2017, July 2). Skeletor and Mumm Ra [Image]. DeviantArt. Retrieved from https://www.deviantart.com/daguillo84/art/Skeletor-and-Mumm-Ra-689970649

Daily Stoic. (n.d.). Translating the Stoics: An interview with “The Daily Stoic” co-author Stephen Hanselman. Retrieved from https://dailystoic.com/stephen-hanselman-interview/

Holiday, R. and Hanselman, S. (2016). The daily stoic: 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. Penguin Random House LLC. Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-daily-stoic-366-meditations-on-wisdom-perseverance-and-the-art-of-living-d61378067.html

Hollings, D. (2022, March 15). Disclaimer. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/disclaimer

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Hollings, D. (2023, October 12). Get better. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/get-better

Hollings, D. (2024, April 13). Goals. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/goals

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Hollings, D. (2024, October 21). Impermanence and uncertainty. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/impermanence-and-uncertainty

Hollings, D. (2023, September 19). Life coaching. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/life-coaching

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Hollings, D. (2023, September 3). On feelings. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-feelings

Hollings, D. (2023, April 24). On truth. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/on-truth

Hollings, D. (2024, May 5). Psychotherapist. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/psychotherapist

Hollings, D. (2022, March 24). Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-rebt

Hollings, D. (2024, April 21). Stoicism. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/stoicism

Hollings, D. (2025, February 28). To try is my goal. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-try-is-my-goal

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