What happens when you die?

I woke up today to the news of Kobe Bryant’s passing. Kobe Bryant was Los Angeles’ hero, and he will always be. My friend who grew up in LA and was busy preparing for his wedding next weekend called me saying how sad he felt about the news.

But this post is not about shock or grief. As the afternoon rolled around, I started thinking about what death means. I have people close to me who have passed away. I know at some point in the future it is going to be my turn. And I want to be prepared when that moment arrives.

If you’re a Christian and you are a good person, you get to heaven when you die. If you follow a different religion, often there’s a different kind of afterlife awaiting you once you depart this life. Be that as it may, I don’t know what afterlife is like. I am more concerned about this life. I am more concerned about what happens to the living people once I leave them to embark on my next journey.

What are people going to think of me once I pass away? What about 100 years after my death? 1,000 years after? Do I want to be remembered like Einstein? Like Augustus? Plato?

Does it even matter?

Does it even matter if in the afterlife I have no idea how I’m perceived of by the living people?

These kind of questions over the years have led me to 3 life principles:

1. I have a deadline for this life. No matter what I do or don’t, I’m going to expire and I won’t have a second chance. For as long as I live, I have only this life to care about.
2. I do not compromise on who I am and I do not try to be like-able, because I have only one life to live. My life. I don’t want to be remembered as the person who tried to be someone else.
3. Anything I do, I do without regrets and with the intention of not creating regrets. If my life is taken away right now or at any given point in the future, I’ll die content. And if I live for another 100 years, I’ll be content on my deathbed.

Death is perhaps the greatest motivation of all. It’s the one absolute deadline, and you don’t know when the deadline will strike you. Kobe Bryant departed our life today. Is there anything you wish you had done with him or for him when he was alive? I hope not, because you would’ve missed your chances.

Is there anyone alive to whom you would really like to have said to done something to if he/she were to depart tomorrow? If so, say that something, do that something now. At the end of the day, you regret only the shots you didn’t take.

Rest in Peace, Kobe.