
Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. […]
YOU ARE ALREADY NAKED. THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO FOLLOW YOUR HEART.
23. Get comfortable with being different:
The fact that millions of people believe a lie does not make the lie a truth. & Abraham Maslow used to discuss “the pathology of normalcy.” The fact that you explore yourself more than others, that you dress differently, that you don’t find idle chatter entertaining, that you aren’t faddish, that you despise television, or that you don’t respect “public opinion” (an oxymoron if ever there was one) may mean that you live, not below the standard of normalcy, but above it. & believe me, it’s a pretty low standard these days. Being thought of as strange can be a mark of distinction. It can also mean you belong to the perennial community of those who are bravely trying to be their real selves.
-Erich Fromm