Memento Mori “Remember, You Must Die” Say What?
Morning everybody, and happy freaking New Year. Give just a little bit of time to get on. I hope everybody’s New Year was safe … Nobody did anything too stupid. Everybody got out alive, right?
I want to come on this morning and just talk a little bit about something that I really thought was interesting. The title is Memento Mori. I think I’m saying that right. I shall look to really find out if that was the right way to say it. So, Memento Mori.
There’s a clothing company that I like and it’s called, just the company, I like their attitude in general and it’s called, Go Fast, Don’t Die. It’s just a group of people, they call it Mischief, Mayhem and Motorcycles, where go fast, take chances, just don’t die. Living on that edge.
Mornin’ Josh. Mornin’ Brendan. Good to see you boys. Good morning everybody.
Along that lines, one of their things that they have is they have something that’s a tee shirt, on the back it’s got a coffin, and it says, “Nobody gets out alive. Live accordingly.” Memento Mori is basically, it translates into eventually you’re going to die. I was thinking about this whole … As New Year’s hit, everybody’s making their word for the year. Everybody’s doing their resolutions for the year. So, number one, I’m going to preface this by saying, don’t get me wrong. I think those are great things, when it’s actually a resolution. There’s a lot of people that make new years wishes. It’s like I wish I could do this. They say, “I’m going to do this,” but what they’re really saying is, “Man, I wished I had the testicular fortitude,” or “I wished I had the perseverance to actually do something like that.” The thing is, they understand, all of us understand that most noted New Year’s resolutions fail. Most people fail at them.
The sad thing is, it’s become the expected. The expected is that at some point your going to fall short on that resolution, or on that word. I’ve talked to people who had their word for the year. I said, “Well, how’d that word for the year go?” “Oh, it was great for about two weeks.” Or, “It was great for half the year.” Well, maybe that wasn’t your word. Maybe you didn’t focus. What are you doing, that you’re not focusing on it enough? Why did you not accomplish it? Was is a New Year’s wish? Was it a New Year’s resolution?
Again, not that those things are bad. I know there’s lots of people talking. That’s the funny thing right now. It’s kind of like the gym. The gym is full. Honestly, I take the first week of the new year off, because I don’t want to deal with it, nine times out of ten. I go back in, and I got my gym back. I got everything that we want back. It’s not that those are bad things. We want people to strive. We want people to move forward. We want to go forward ourselves. The whole reason behind today’s post is to deal with some of the BS associated with the one word. The BS associate with a New Year’s resolution. All those types of things.The BS that I’m talking about is the wish piece. It’s not a resolution. If you’re resolute in something, it means nothing’s going to sway you. Nothing’s going to move you off of your path.
I was talking with somebody and I said, “You gotta call something what it is.” If you call it a resolution, and you don’t make it, you’re frustrated because you didn’t make a resolution. If you call it, man I really hope to do better this year, and you don’t do it, well you just hoped. You know what? Hope in one hand, blank in the other, which one’s going to fill first? If you’re going to do it, do it.
The whole go fast, don’t die, nobody gets out alive, live accordingly, Memento Mori, which means that you’re going to die eventually, that’s kind of how I look at it. None of us are going to get out of this thing called life alive. None of us are going to take with us anything. You’re just going to be done. I look at that moving into the new year, and this whole thing with the Man Up project, all that stuff, it’s like, what do I want to do? What do I want to get? What do I want to accomplish? So that, I’m not going to get out of this thing alive, but what I want to leave when I’m gone. What kind of a legacy, what kind of a mark on this world, what I want people to say about Scott Schuler when he’s gone? What do I want them to think of how I lived?
Did I talk about in the book how if your absence isn’t felt, your presence is a joke. I believe that 100%. It goes along those lines. What kind of a mark are you going to leave? If you not being there isn’t felt, then when you actually are there, it’s a joke. That’s what it means. It means you’re not having an impact. You’re not leaving a mark. You’re not, as Josh said, your legacy. You’re not imparting any kind of a legacy if when you’re gone, you’re absence isn’t felt.
As you’re going through … If you’re doing your one word, awesome! Do you’re one word for the year. If you’re doing a New Year’s resolution, do a resolution. But here’s what I’m going to challenge you to do. Actually live up to what a resolution is. It’s a resolute. It means it’s firm. It’s nothing’s going to sway you from it. You’re getting it no matter what. Live up to it. Do it.
If you’re going to do you’re one word, put things in place that remind you of why you’re doing you’re one word. Highlight the pain piece. Highlight pieces of pain that are the reason behind you wanting to do that one word … To be that one word. When we’re comfortable, things don’t change. Stuff stays the same. We maintain the status quo when we’re comfortable.
Look at a physical therapist. Pretty much everybody’s been the a physical therapist at some point in their life. When you’re hurting, when you’re in pain, or when you go see your chiropractor, like I was … When you’re in pain and you’re hurting, you’re resolute, if you will with your care. You do your exercises on a regular bases, because there’s something there that reminds you that you’re not well, that you’re not right, that something’s going on and something’s wrong. As we start to heal, and as we start to feel better however, what happens? What happens is we slack off. It’s human nature. I’m not calling you a bad person because you don’t do your exercises, or you don’t keep your appointments with your chiropractor, or your physical therapist.
What I’m saying is, this piece of resoluteness, this piece of changing that one word, of actually doing and being this one word … Unless you highlight it with the source of pain that caused you to want to change it in the first place, you’re going to become comfortable. That pain is going to be less and less, and it’s going to start to fall by the wayside. So you need to have, I would say, almost a daily reminder of why you’re doing your one word, of why you made your New Year’s resolution.
The other thing is accountability. You have to have … You need someone that’s going to hold you accountable to that piece. If you don’t have somebody who can hold you accountable to the pain, to the reason that you chose your one word, to the reason why you decided to make a New Year’s resolution, it’s much easier to fall to the side.
Here’s the other thing I’m going to say. If you’ve already made your resolution … If you’ve already made your one word, you got all that down, don’t go try to change the world in one day. Don’t think that you gotta make 15 changes today. Pick one thing. Pick one thing that’s going to move you forward today, towards your one word. Pick one thing that’s going to move you forward today, towards your resolution, and do that. Because every time you do something that’s hard or difficult, it gets easier the next time. If you try and do 50 things at once, you’re going to get paralysis by analysis. It’s going to be hard. It’s not going to be easy to do, and your chances of accomplishing or keeping going, it drops off dramatically. That’s been proven over and over.
So, that’s all I got today, guys. Again, nothing wrong with your one word. I’ve got my one word. My one word for this year is improve. Everyday I’m going to do something that’s going to improve me in some area of my life. Improve … I’m going to improve on the Man Up project. I’m going to improve on the Man Up book. What that means yet, you’ll have to wait to find out. That’s me, and I’ve got things in place, and people in place that are going to hold me to that, and keep pushing me forward in that.
So, Memento Mori, which means we’re going to die at some point. Might as well get stuff done now. Leave your mark. Nobody gets out of this thing alive. If your absence isn’t felt, your presence is really a joke. So guys, gals that are on here, make sure that … This is what I’m going to challenge you all in 2019. If I’m going to say anything to everybody here, it’s this, do the most and the best you can to make sure that whenever you’re not around those that you love the most, that you’re absence is truly felt. If you can live your life with that thought process, that thought in mind, that you are living life, so that the people you love the most, that your absence is truly felt when you’re not there, you got something.
So, do your one words. Do your New Year’s resolutions, just don’t make them a New Year’s wish, and have somebody hold you accountable, and take little bites, guys.
Alright. Hope you all have a great rest of the week. Hope you have a great start to the new year. If you don’t mind below, post your one word, post your New Year’s resolution, post the one thing that you’re doing today to get you there, put who’s holding you accountable. Who are you letting, who are you allowing to hold you accountable? That’s the other thing. You can choose someone to hold you accountable, but are you going to release that control to allow them to hold you accountable?
Alright guys. That’s all I got. Happy New Year. You guys all take care. I wish you nothing but the best for the 2019 ahead, and that’s it. Taker care guys. Catch ya later.