Quote · Modern Wisdom
Raw Truths From The Brink Of Death - Ben Askren - #1116
Where this was said
Choose Your Own Legacy
At 58:30 · chapter starts 57:38
Chris offers a sweeping summary of Ben's life as a series of junctures, each one offering the world a convenient narrative peg: the undefeated college champion, the fastest knockout, the man who boxed Jake Paul, now the man who survived a double lung transplant. At each juncture, Ben has stuck his middle finger up at the handshake — refusing to let any single moment define him. [1] — Ben Askren "The point of life is not to arrive safely at death." 1:00:07 Ben says his legacy, if there is one, will be determined by other people, and he is largely indifferent to their verdict. What he does care about is showing up every day, taking opportunities when they arrive, and not arriving safely at death — the line from Josh Medcalf's book 'Finish Empty' that Ben read while literally recovering from the brink of death, giving it a weight Medcalf himself may not have imagined. He adds another Medcalf formulation: 'Worrying is like a rocking chair — you can move all day but you ain't going anywhere.' Both ideas now anchor his daily orientation toward action over anxiety.
