Time and The Absurdity of Existence
A brief reflection
“The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart.”
— Albert Camus
When I was twenty, I started to reflect on mortality. As hard as it was—and still is—doing this changed my mind in a number of positive ways.
It made me realize a deep truth: what stops people from living the best life they could is fear. Fear of judgment, fear of failure, fear of embarrassment.
But fear really does disappear when you contemplate that one day, you will no longer be here.
Think about it. The most reliable way to get past the fear of doing something—whether it’s saying hello to a stranger, taking a career risk, or going somewhere new—is to remember this might be your only chance. Another way to look at it is that it won’t matter at some point anyway, so you might as well just send it.
Although I must say, now that I’m twenty-four, I feel almost deceived. It is as if I thought that realizing the nature of time would slow it down or something. Of course, I was wrong. It just keeps moving. Time keeps on slipping.
I say this not in sadness. I say it to reaffirm that the wisest thing you can do in this life is just enjoy. Not in a overly hedonistic sense. Climb mountains. Take on responsibility. Work hard. But don’t forget that existing is absurd. So just enjoy, baby.
Thank You For Reading
The purpose of this blog is to explore my curiosity and share what I learn with smart people on the internet.
If you like what I’m doing with it and want to support my work, there are various ways you can do it.
Like and Restack — Click the buttons at the top or bottom of the page to boost the post’s visibility on Substack
Share — Send the post to your friends or share it online
Upgrade to Paid — A premium subscription is a direct way to fuel this publication that unlocks:
Knowledge Journey posts: exclusive curated deep dives into culture, languages, and philosophy
Access to start threads in the subscriber chat
With gratitude,
Jeff