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The Deathbed Fallacy
- bootsz 8y agoAs with many things in life, I think the takeaway is that it's all about balance and moderation. The classic "deathbed" list is illustrative of one type of lifestyle "out of balance", but the author makes a very good hypothesis that these themes could very well be correlated with generational differences or circumstance. > I’ve met quite a few people who are very concerned about living an authentic, carefree life without having a lot of other things figured out first. This is a pretty accurate description of how I was in my late teens and most of my twenties. What's interesting is that looking back now, if I think about my "regrets" regarding that period of my life, some are actually polar opposites of the items on the classic Deathbed List: 1) I wish I had worked harder and challenged myself more instead of coasting / resting on my laurels. I was so worried about being one of those people who works too much that I overcompensated and missed out on a lot of opportunities for personal growth. 2) I wish I had relied a little less on my established group of high school & college friends as I got older, and instead was more open to forming new relationships as well. Keeping in touch is important, but clinging to the past and refusing to move forward isn't healthy either.
- JoeAltmaier 8y agoHell, I don't even respect tomorrow-me, much less have any good advice to give decades-ago me. So not limited to deathbed sentiments. Any melancholic thoughts about the past are pretty useless.
- buvanshak 8y agoWhat a stupid article. People should really cut down on trying to turn every single thing (silly ones at times, such as this) into a fallacy and getting a dopamine hit out of it...