Becoming our own legacy?

Ah Daisy
3 min readMay 4, 2024

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When we die where do we go?

The sun winding down for the day, it must wake and live to shine another day.

Do we simply disappear, or do we reappear in another life or form? Could there be a phase of nothingness?

A true scientist would try to find patterns, trends, and any and all possibly observable evidence, or cues that suggest some form of defining answer to this question.

Alas, this is scientifically impossible.

There are no cues to find in the dead — the absence of life begets the absence of any human behavior. Lack of a pulse; no sign of a beating heart meanwhile, the only reminder of life once lived is the still lifeless body in all its paleness, slowly decomposing, turning into the dust beneath.

The soul is gone. Where it goes, no one truly knows.

It all seems hopeless now doesn’t it?

A spark…

The rusty bulb in her mind lights up. An idea, much more fabulous than neon pink light in the dark, is born. New questions are brewing, questions with a real chance.

What are those patterns in behavior leading up to death?

How probable are the resulting predictions and conclusions?

Are these patterns causal or correlational? Both? Or neither?

What is the true relationship between these behaviors and death? The questions have to be considered before the questions of life after death could be considered.

Perhaps my entire thesis is a big, fat, lie but the scientist in me thrives on hope, for how else would she have the strength to continue to dig for truth. In other words, this self proclaimed true scientist has had her interest peaked.

Lo and behold, she finds herself upside down in the vivid gallows of curiosity, again.

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Erik Erickson, a VIP psychologist, wrote about the stages of psychosocial development in the human race. He only reached a conclusion after an incredible amount of observational study and quasi-experimentation had been done, by him and multiple colleagues.

Yes, it is all peer reviewed.

The detail of his research that is most important to this article is the stage called middle adulthood, in which, being generative or being stagnant is the psycho social crisis for humans within the estimated ages of 40 and 65. In popular culture, this is otherwise known as the overly glorified existential MIDLIFE CRISIS. The era of potential downfall for the middle aged.

The feeling of non-fulfillment, all consuming and potent. So much so that if not dealt with it leads to the ultimate crash and burn.

That being said, it is true that as humans, reflection is as subconscious as it is conscious. And as humans growing older every second, the more we reflect and the more there is to reflect on. All of a sudden, it comes a stage, midlife to be precise, where we yearningly look back on how we spent our youth, a time that would seem to have just quickly flown by — sooner would a blink end.

The youth was there, oh how ripe it was! Now it is all gone…

All too soon, you’re aching, your joints are squeaking, your skin is sagging and you’re just not as good at anything as you used to be. Your body is tired, worn down by wear and tear over time, so the mind picks up the pace.

Pain, all kinds of it.

The time lost, wasted.

The dreams that faded away.

The high hopes, now tragic despair.

Regrets and wishes washing up ashore.

What’s the next move? What mark have I left in this world? What contributions have I made to mankind?

What have I accomplished?

WHAT IS MY LEGACY?

These are the questions, the direction of thought that ensues as death inches closer, and closer.

Although, woe is you, the situation is conquerable. Breakthrough is the only cure.

Live the life that’s left to live. Let’s leave life after death for just that… after death. And maybe, just maybe, you could have lived a life worth reliving.

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Ah Daisy

Catch me whenever you can… I’ll be here, there or wherever