I can remember being a kid living my best life and having zero worries or concerns. Then I got older and life just slapped me all over (I’m sure you know the feeling).
Now my mind is cluttered with things like work-life balance, bills, family, and occasional philosophical ponderings. I find the older I become the more philosophical ponderings I have, and one of those ponderings is of death. Of course, one’s mind thinks about death. How could it not? It’s not in a bad way, just in a curious I wonder what happens way.
Why am I even bringing up death when this post title specifically mentioned “embracing life”? Because life and death are like a package deal. You can’t have one without the other. I also know that this doesn’t make death any more exciting to talk about or think about.
If you’re like me and often have philosophical ponderings about life or death, then I highly recommend reading The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer. It’s about a woman named Clover (duh) who works as a death doula. Day in and day out she’s confronted with death and she even spends her free time going to “death cafes” where people can discuss death and dying with like-minded people.
(And yes, death cafes are real. I thought that might be a bit of fiction, but they are really real.)
Clover is a peculiar person because while she’s so comfortable around death, she’s just as uncomfortable with life. Her best friend is an elderly man and she spends most of her free time hiding in her apartment. At the same time, she has collected all of the regrets of people who have passed on and tries her best to fulfill them. In other words, she spends a lot of time living her life for the dead instead of for herself.
Thankfully, Clover realizes that she isn’t really living and changes her life around with the help of her elderly best friend and some new friends too. It’s a short read on a topic that I don’t think gets discussed enough. Most importantly, there are some really great quotes strewn throughout this book that will most definitely have you embracing life.
Enjoy!
Instead of constantly asking ourselves the question of why we’re here, maybe you should be savoring the simpler truth: We are here.
Mikki Brammer
The secret to a beautiful death is living a beautiful life.
Mikki Brammer
Don’t let the best parts of life pass you by because you’re too scared of the unknown.
Mikki Brammer
Be cautiously reckless.
Mikki Brammer
Who are we to tell anyone their pain isn’t worthy?
Mikki Brammer
It’s easy to glamorize the path you didn’t take.
Mikki Brammer
If you want something you don’t have, you have to do something you’ve never done.
Mikki Brammer
Death is a natural part of life. In fact, it’s the only thing in life that we can really count on.
Mikki Brammer
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