People who have a hard time letting go of the past often have trouble letting go of the future. We live in a hyper-focused world where the future is constantly being pushed forward. It is almost impossible for us to truly let go without losing our current view. It is only when we let go that we can truly see the new world that awaits us.
For that reason, we’ve been collecting quotes over the past few months from people who seem to have given up on the future. We’ve been asking the question “what came first, the chicken or the egg?” with the hope that those who have given up on the futures they thought were out of reach, might be able to help us see the new one.
I think the first quote that comes to mind is from the late, great Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan is always the first person we ask for advice. He gave up on the future that he thought was out of reach and has now become a true believer. Joe Rogan is not only a great athlete, but a great talker and has a ton of great quotes (well, there is one from a couple of years ago, but that’s about it).
His quotes are always great, but what comes to mind the most is the one that says, “the only time you need to feel old is when you’re old and your time is up.
Well that is definitely one of my favorite quotes about life and age and time. I love any quote that reminds me that while I am a grown up, I still have the capacity to be a kid again. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really thought about what would happen to me if I woke up one morning and my time was up. I would probably go on the news and announce I had been replaced by a younger version of myself.
And I remember thinking, that is exactly what my mother would say when I told her I was going to be a dad. She would always say, “you know, time changes people’s personalities. You just never know what kind of person you will become.” And I think that is what that quote is all about.
And that quote is the epitome of what we strive to achieve with the three-part series that we are working on here at the magazine. It’s about what happens when we lose the ability to control our own lives and the things we do.
For example, one of the quotes that hit hard is from a famous quote on suicide-prevention advice (as told by the author of the well-known quote), which is this: “Don’t do what you are afraid of. Do what you are afraid of doing. Do what you are afraid you will be afraid of doing. Do what you are afraid you are afraid of.
Well, this quote from a famous writer is one of the most famous quotes on suicide prevention that we know of. It has been repeated for centuries by almost all of the world’s greats and is one of our two main quotes for the upcoming issue.
Well, you could call it a cliché. I can only think of one time I saw somebody do something which seemed like a cliché. It was on “Law & Order SVU”. A woman was on the witness stand for the murder trial of one of the victims. She was all alone in her room and she turned to the judge and said, “He’s just like the man I married”. The judge said, “You’re kidding me.