Echoes of the Lost

Are you afraid to die?

"Are you afraid to die?" she asked on an ordinary Tuesday night.
Without hesitation, I said, "No."
She looked at me in disbelief and asked, "Why?"

I've never feared goodbyes.
Death and I are old friends.
We've met in moments when life felt too heavy to carry, when the weight of the world seemed unbearable.
I've seen it in the quiet of sleepless nights, felt its shadow lurking in the darkest corners of my mind.
It's always been there, lingering just out of sight, offering an escape when everything else felt overwhelming.
Death never frightened me; it comforted me with its certainty.

What terrified me was living.
Living means making choices, risking mistakes, and standing at crossroads, unsure which way to go.
It's falling over and over, until one day you finally learn to soar.
It's facing the unknown, feeling the weight of every decision, and carrying the fear of what lies ahead.
Life is a constant balancing act, a tightrope without a safety net.
It's risking failure, enduring heartbreak, and stepping into uncertainty.

Death, on the other hand, is simple.
Death is final.
But living...
Living requires a kind of courage I wasn't sure I had.

She paused, letting my words settle between us, the silence heavier than the question itself.
After a moment, she said softly, "Maybe it's not about being unafraid or having it all figured out. Maybe it's about finding the courage to keep going, even when it terrifies you."
And in that quiet exchange, we both understood: living, despite everything, is the real battle we all face.