Opinion: As we confront Covid-19, death remains my biggest motivator in life

Jaluum Herberts

What's your biggest motivator in life!?

I was once asked in a TV interview. "Death" I said. The interviewer was so freaked out. Explain he said.

Life or the desire to live is man's biggest desire in life.

This makes death literally man's biggest fear.Man will do everything to live even when it's clear that the chances of surviving are so slim. I lost my dad at a very early age, I was in P5.

I was fully grown and would understand and comprehend the things around me of course. For some reason I knew my dad wouldn't make it.

Even when I went back to school (boarding) all I waited for was that fateful day when a relative came to pick me from school before the term ended and that happened about a month into the school term.

Jaluum your needed at the principal's office our science teacher said.

Right about then, I felt in me that my dad was gone.When I saw my uncle I didn't wait for him to break the news to me.

He is gone right!?I asked him.

Let's first reach home he tried to evade my question.You don't need to hide it from me, I was expecting it uncle.

I was at my dad's beside before I left for school and we talked about a few things.

I think my dad died with a lot of regrets.

He kept talking about the things he hadn't done.He had spent time chasing money and building his career.

He regretted that he never did what he wanted to do, his dreams. He never spent much more time with his kids and family.He never started that business he always wanted to start. Looking back at his life he never lived life the way he wanted and always put doing the thing he really dreamed of on hold for another day until the day he was on his death bed the chances of another day were grim.

Looking at Steve Jobs life. I realised Steve did way much more with his life after discovering he had cancer than he did before he knew it.

When the doctors told him he had cancer and wasn't going to live for long, he right away went into the rush to do all the things he wanted to do that he still thought he had a lot of time to do before.

That's how he gave us the iPod, iPad, iphone because he was racing against time to do all these things which were on his dream list and now he realised how much little time he had left to accomplish.

The fear of dying without accomplishing them became his driving factor.

His life was on some kinda timer and if you read his autobiography you'll realise that's the time apple grew so fast as company releasing all these products so fast one after the other.

Products that would go on to revolutionise the world and change the way we listened to music, the way we communicated and the PC as it was known to us.

When people are hit with the reality that life isn't infinite then they start thinking of all the things they should do or would have done with the little time they had or have on earth.

I know alot of us live like we have forever until we are hit with the reality of death.

This is when we start thinking of the things that matter to us, then things that we've always dreamed of doing.

Whether it's spending more time with our loved ones, starting that business we've always wanted to start, going back to school to get that degree we've grown up wanting to get or traveling the world name it.

Personally death is a reality I've made peace with.

My biggest fear or worry isn't that I'll die, it's how I will die.

Will I die a satisfied and fulfilled man or will I die with regrets of things I didn't get to do that meant everything to me in life!? I know I won't die a sad man even if I died tomorrow.

I haven't achieved all I ever dreamed of but five years ago I made a tough decision. I left my job and decided to pursue my dreams.

Even if they don't come true, I would have lived them.

I am so far happy with myself and continue to live on my dream path and based on how much time I still got.

I know I will reach my destination and bring the curtains down on my life with a sense of fulfillment.

I will be happy to say goodbye to this world that has been home to me for sometime.

I won't have regrets of what I should have done but didn't do because I lived life like I'm going to die tomorrow, everyday is a bonus a chance to tick another thing off my bucket list.

Truth is you'll die, make peace with that.

Your biggest worry shouldn't be that you'll die but how you'll die. If you died tomorrow (which is a big likelihood) would you be happy with how you lived your life?

Will you be satisfied that you pursued all your dreams and didn't put them on hold just to survive. You know there's a big difference between being alive and living. Are you merely alive or are actually living!?

Nice Sunday as you ponder on this. This should be something you think about during this quarantine time.

Jaluum Herberts Luwizza is a founding partner and COO at Young Treps,Campus Doctor,Boroboro, a Keynote Speaker,Writer and Contributor with the Nile Post.