“Death Is Not The Greatest Loss In Life. The Greatest Loss Is What Dies Inside Us While We Live”

Norman Cousins’ quote puts life, death, and what matters into perspective. Essentially, he is saying that the things we lose when we are alive are a bigger tragedy than us dying. But why? Death is the ultimate end, at least in this world. How could it possibly be not as bad something that happens when you are still alive?

One of the easiest answers to this question is that everyone dies. Dying is not some tragedy that you experience but that other people do not. It is inevitable for all living beings. If it is inevitable for everyone, dying itself is not the biggest tragedy.

Ok, you might say. “Death isn’t necessarily the biggest tragedy. But it is the biggest loss in life. Death literally means the losing of one’s life.” While death is certainly a huge loss, if you have lived a full life, you are not losing as much when you die.

When something dies inside of you while you live, then you are truly losing something. You are losing that inner joy or meaning. And that is an extreme tragedy. We all will encounter challenges, criticisms, and failures in our lives. They will be unpleasant. But we cannot let the fear of those things prevent us from pursuing what makes us feel alive.

I know that this idea is easier to say than to act out. Especially for more cautious people. Why take the risk that could end poorly when you can always come back another time? The trouble is that this mindset, that we always have more time, leads us to wasting it. We don’t always have more time. At some point, we have to put our dreams into action and live the life we have been given.

The stifling of your ambitions and dreams while you live is worse than dying. Because no matter what decision you make, you have no say over whether you die. But you do have a say on whether you reach towards your ambitions and dreams. If you lose hope and joy in life, how much good is living anyway?

You have a finite amount of time in this life. Wasting it is a tragedy. Learning, growing, trying and failing, and improving yourself is what life is all about. Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.