2016: A Reminder to Live

2016 was a rough year as far as celebrity deaths go. We started in January with David Bowie’s death right after his latest album Blackstar. And most recently we lost Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds this week. Not only did 2016 seem like it took more of our stars, it also seemed like it took our best and brightest.

We as a culture are blaming 2016 for stealing away our visionaries. Sadly, for the most part, it’s just time stealing them away. And 2017 isn’t going to be much better. It will continue to remind us that time isn’t infinite. As Carrie Fisher wrote in her book Wishful Drinking: “You know what’s funny about death? I mean other than absolutely nothing at all? You’d think we could remember finding out we weren’t immortal. Sometimes I see children sobbing airports and I think, ‘Aww. They’ve just been told.'”

With this reminder of our own mortality, and the new year fast approaching, I urge everyone to take a moment of reflection. Where are you now, and where would you like to be? What would you like to create? What would you like to accomplish? Use that to propel your new year, and hopefully we’ll all have a little better 2017.