Google Your Own Obituary: Life and Death

Have you ever googled your own obituary?! It makes you think about life and death a bit differently!

***Warning** Morbid post ahead.

Joshua Dennis has died… Lots of times.

Okay, let me explain. There has been a lot of death in the news these days, namely mass shootings and gun violence, so naturally, death is on the brain. However…

I didn’t mean to get morbid this week. Morbidity found me.

I was googling my name recently, looking for reviews of the world premier here at the Santa Fe Opera. After scrolling down I saw that google asked me…

“Did you mean ‘Joshua Dennis Obituary?”

No!! No, I did not mean that!! WTF?!?!

But, now that you asked… I’m interested! So I clicked. What I found disturbed me:

Joshua Russel DennisAge : 40
Joshua James DennisAge : 35
Joshua Edward DennisAge : 38

I’m 34!! And that last guy even has my middle name!!

So, Now I get on the soap box and tell everyone, life is short, get out there, do what you love, let go of your fears, right?!

Life and Death are a pair!

life is FUCKING short! get out there! do what you love! let go of your fears!!!!!

I see these guys’ pictures. I don’t know how they died, but I know they did.

Now ask yourself what it is you’ve been holding onto. For me, it’s writing my thoughts down, hence this blog post. I love to write. I hope to maybe write a book one day, no matter how few people read it! You know, these dead guys really lit a fire under my butt!

So what do you need? I’m a huge fan of motivational videos on youtube. If you need a pick-me-up try that! Here, try this one… It’s seriously the best:

Seriously greatest motivational video of all time!!

If you want a little different motivation. Why not go morbid and google:

“Your Name” Obituary

Warning, it’s freaky, but it woke up something in me. I hope I can use it for those days that I don’t want to work out, those days when I procrastinate, those days when I am feeling down.

I hope that those men’s life and death remind me to live my life!

Now here is this biggest problem I had writing this blog. I do not want to come across as a hypocrite.

PSA!! I am not a motivational speaker!

I am lazier than I’d like to be and I LOVE to sleep in. Plus, I have been known to procrastinate. Maybe I’m being hard on myself, but here is one thing I do know. I know these dead people helped me with. Even if it wasn’t doing something epic.

I was driving home from the opera with my wife and I thought.

“What would I do differently if I knew this was my last ride with her?”

Well, I realized I wasn’t holding my wife’s hand. So I reached out and she happily grabbed it.

I then thought I need to let her know I loved her, so I told her so. She felt the same way and told me the same.

“Okay, I can die now,” I thought, haha.

I looked at the night sky for the “last time.” I smelled the night air for the “last time.” The air and the sky smelled sweeter and looked more beautiful that night.

Lastly, I’m sure this approach won’t work for everybody. It may give you an appreciation of life today but not tomorrow. But I dare you to do the search. Do it and let me know what you find and how you feel about it! If you are anything like me, life and death will have a different meaning after you do.