Reflections

I've been single for about 7 years now.

When you find love, after some time, you start taking it for granted. That's when you stop paying attention. That's when you start making mistakes. That's when you start saying things and doing things that you'll regret for a very long long time to come, perhaps even the rest of your life.

The first lesson about love is that one should never get too cocky. Perhaps you aren't all that special. Perhaps you got lucky to find someone that outstanding and remarkable who fell in love with you.
Maybe there won't be a next time.

Appreciate love when you have it.

But even more educational than finding love and being single, is having a close call with death.
I've had a few close calls with death.

It's one thing to miss death by a few seconds, for that close call to linger for a moment, and then dissipate.
It's another to fall unconscious, and die.
It's a completely different perspective when you are fully conscious and aware that you're dying; to feel your strength leaving your body, to feel your arms and legs weakening, to feel your mind losing touch with reality, hallucinating, then waking up to an immense amount of pain and suffering, your stomach, unable to hold down the food, your body, unable to function without it. A slow death.

I now understand why so many people want to have families; why they go through so much trouble and sacrifice so much of their happiness to raise their children.
Because when they grow old, and their time comes, death is a painfully slow experience, preceded by pain and suffering that is incomparable.
It is during this period that all their sins are held accountable. It is the time when flashbacks of all their wrongdoings become visible.
That's when a person needs their family and loved ones around them, to support them and care for them. Unfortunately, most people will never have that. Anyone can raise a family. Even pigs have a bunch of piglets. If one misses out on all the key aspects of having a family, they might as well be alone.

There are a lot of badasses in this world; a lot of tough men and strong women.
I sure hope they have what it takes to end it when they hit 50, because otherwise, they have no idea what old age has in store for them.
You're not just going to die. Death is a process. A long process.

No one dies a fool. They may not be able to say it out loud, but they're going to experience it. They're going to feel it. The knowledge. The realization. The enlightenment. The wisdom. The regret.

Do you want to die like a dog in the street?
The next time someone gets too cocky, they should ask themselves that.