Shystoryteller

We live in a world obsessed with certainties. We seek guarantees in our careers, our relationships, our investments, and our plans. We build elaborate security systems around our lives, hoping to control outcomes and ensure predictable results. Yet despite all our efforts, there remains only one absolute certainty that applies to every human being who has ever lived or ever will live.

Death is the only guarantee in life.

The Illusion of Control

We can make any plans, and there’s no guarantee they will come true. Rather, nothing is guaranteed in life. You may get it, or you may not. You may have a loving family, and you may not. You may have a lot of money, and you may not. Every aspect of your life is optional. Only death is a constant.

This reality can initially feel unsettling. We spend so much energy trying to control variables that are ultimately beyond our influence. We worry about outcomes we cannot guarantee, stress over futures we cannot predict, and exhaust ourselves chasing security that doesn’t truly exist.

No matter who you are. No matter where you live, or how much money you make. No matter if you love your life or hate it with a fiery vengeance. Death is slowly and steadily coming towards you.

You won’t know when or how. But you know that it will happen surely.

The Universal Pattern

And death is not the only destiny for humans. Everything in nature comes to an end. Even this universe was born and is slowly moving towards its demise. The stars, the planets, every single seen and unseen thing around us—everything is bound to die one day.

This universal pattern of beginning and ending, birth and death, creation and destruction, runs through every level of existence. From the smallest cells in our bodies to the grandest galaxies in space, everything follows this fundamental rhythm. We are not alone in our mortality; we are part of an infinite dance of temporary existence.

When we zoom out and see ourselves as part of this cosmic cycle, our individual struggles and anxieties begin to take on a different perspective. We are not fighting against some cruel fate, but participating in the most natural process in the universe.
The Unexpected Comfort

It’s not a sad thought if you look at it closely. Rather, it is freeing. The cycle of life keeps on moving even if we don’t want it to. That’s comforting to know. Even when we get tired, and have no energy or desire to keep moving, it’s comforting to know that there are things bigger than us that will keep on happening no matter what we do or don’t do.

I find it super comforting.

There’s something profoundly reassuring about knowing that the universe doesn’t depend on our constant effort to keep spinning. When we’re overwhelmed by the weight of our responsibilities, when we feel like we’re carrying the world on our shoulders, we can remember that the great cycles of existence continue regardless of our personal struggles.

This isn’t about giving up or becoming passive. It’s about finding relief in the knowledge that we don’t have to control everything. We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to have all the answers. The universe will continue its dance whether we stumble or stride.

Walking Through the Fog

It’s like I am walking down an unknown path and not much is visible. Everything is covered in fog and I can barely see the next step. Even then I keep stumbling as I keep moving forward. But it is comforting to know that no matter how lost I might get, the end is certain. No matter which path I choose, I will end up dead sooner or later.

This metaphor of walking through fog captures the human experience perfectly. We make decisions with incomplete information. We choose directions without knowing where they lead. We stumble, we course-correct, we sometimes feel completely lost.

But here’s the liberating truth: no matter how many wrong turns we take, no matter how far we wander from our original plans, we cannot ultimately get lost. The destination is fixed. The timeline is set, even if we don’t know what it is.

So, this gives me freedom to relax and explore. Even when I am not where I planned to be, even when I am lost, I can enjoy the journey without fear. After all, nothing I do can change the final destination.

The Ultimate Freedom

No matter how lost I get, I will reach the destination exactly when I am supposed to. Not a moment sooner and not a moment later. And I don’t have to worry about it because I don’t have any control over it whatsoever.

This is the ultimate freedom.

When we truly internalize this truth, it transforms how we approach life. Instead of gripping tightly to outcomes, we can hold our plans lightly. Instead of panicking when things don’t go according to schedule, we can trust that we’re exactly where we need to be.

This freedom doesn’t make us reckless or irresponsible. Rather, it makes us more present, more curious, more willing to embrace uncertainty as an adventure rather than a threat.

It will all end eventually. Some way or another. It will all end.

Ancient Wisdom for Modern Anxiety

Making plans is fun. Executing them is fun as long as things are going my way, as long as I am getting the result I am expecting. It’s when I start fixating on the results that I lose focus from the journey itself, and that brings a lot of anxiety.
This reminds me of the golden lesson from the Bhagavad Gita—focus on your actions and not on the results.

This ancient wisdom becomes even more powerful when viewed through the lens of mortality. If death is our only guaranteed destination, then our attachment to specific outcomes along the way becomes not just counterproductive, but almost absurd.

The Gita’s teaching isn’t about being indifferent to results, but about finding peace in the process itself. When we focus on showing up fully for our actions—doing our best work, loving deeply, acting with integrity—we can release our anxious grip on outcomes we cannot control.

The Journey Is All We Have

This hits harder when I think about the ultimate destination being death. The journey is all I have. I can’t wait to start living my life once I reach the destination.

Every time I think that I will be happier once I lose some weight, or once I get another job, or when I finish my degree, or publish a book or meet the right person or whatever else it is that I am waiting for. And then I realize that as soon as I get to one milestone, I will start looking at the next one and then the next one. I will never reach the destination because the only true destination where my journey ends is death.

This pattern of perpetual “someday” thinking is one of the most common ways we miss our actual lives. We postpone presence, postpone contentment, postpone full engagement with what’s happening right now, always believing that the real life is waiting for us just around the next corner.

But corners keep coming, and milestones keep passing, and still we find ourselves waiting for some future moment to finally arrive and grant us permission to be fully alive.

Until then, whatever I come across is just another milestone.

Milestones, Not Destinations

And don’t get me wrong, it is good to have goals and celebrating milestones is important too. But that’s all they are. Part of the journey. Not the destination.
I am sure I will be happy when I finally lose the final few kilos of my weight. But that happiness won’t last forever. I know that because I have achieved milestones before and felt happy and then got over it too.

Goals and milestones serve important purposes. They give us direction, motivation, and reasons to celebrate. They help us grow and challenge ourselves. But when we mistake them for the ultimate destination, we set ourselves up for a cycle of temporary satisfaction followed by renewed restlessness.

The beauty lies not in reaching these temporary stops along the way, but in understanding that they’re just that—temporary stops. Each achievement, each setback, each moment of joy or sorrow is simply part of the larger tapestry of our journey.

Living in the Space Between

Understanding that death is life’s only guarantee doesn’t mean we should become morbid or nihilistic. Instead, it can make us more alive, more present, more appreciative of the temporary nature of our experiences.

When we know that everything is temporary—our struggles as much as our successes—we can hold both more lightly. We can endure difficulties with greater patience, knowing they will pass. We can savor joys more fully, knowing they are precious precisely because they are fleeting.

This perspective can transform our relationship with uncertainty. Instead of seeing the unknown as a threat to be controlled, we can begin to see it as a space of infinite possibility. Instead of fearing the fog, we can learn to dance with it.

The Paradox of Acceptance

In this certainty of death, we find not despair, but liberation. We find permission to be present, to stumble, to explore, and to live fully in the fog of uncertainty, knowing that our path—whatever it may be—is exactly as it should be.

This is perhaps the greatest paradox of human existence: in accepting the one thing we cannot change, we find the freedom to change everything else. In embracing our mortality, we discover how to truly live.

The path through the fog may be uncertain, but the company we keep on the journey—the love we share, the beauty we notice, the kindness we offer, the growth we experience—these make the walk worthwhile. Not because they guarantee any particular outcome, but because they are the very substance of what it means to be human.

And knowing that this path has a definite end gives us permission to walk it with curiosity rather than fear, with presence rather than anxiety, with gratitude rather than grasping.

After all, we’re all walking the same mysterious path through the same beautiful fog, heading toward the same certain destination. We might as well enjoy the journey together.