What Is There to Lose?

One concept from the teachings of Gautama Buddha that I deeply resonate with is the impermanent nature of life. Nothing in this world is permanent — not life, not happiness, not suffering, not achievement, not even our existence itself.

Everything stays with us only for a limited time and eventually leaves us, whether it is the people we love or the material things we become attached to. Just as whatever is born must one day die, everything in existence has a limited lifespan and is destined to slip away from us sooner or later.

If we truly absorb this concept into our lives, we can free ourselves from many fears. But first, we must accept a difficult truth: we actually have nothing to lose. Whatever we build in this world will remain here. Whatever wealth or fame we earn will stay behind after we are gone.

Yet people do the opposite. That is why so many live suffocating lives. They fall into the illusion that if they do not live a conventional life, they will lose everything. They fear that if they fail to achieve their dreams, society will mock them and they will carry the stigma of being “unsuccessful.”

This is one of the biggest reasons people fall into depression today. Deep down, they want one thing, but they spend their lives doing something completely different. Someone dreams of becoming a writer, but under social pressure ends up becoming a doctor, engineer, or CA instead.

And the most ironic part is that people rarely resist it. Most people are already terrified inside. They think, “What if I fail while chasing my own dreams? People will criticize me.”

I have noticed that such people fear accountability more than anything else. They are afraid that if they fail in a profession they personally chose, the entire responsibility for that failure will fall on them. So instead, they play the victim card: “Look, I’m doing what you told me to do. Don’t blame me if I fail.”

There is a strange and unhealthy comfort they get from blaming society or their parents. It becomes a false source of emotional relief. They tell themselves:

“I am such a good person. I sacrificed my own life for others. I obeyed my parents and killed my dreams for them.”

But then they spend their entire lives suffocating inside.

In my eyes, these people are escapists. They are terrified of taking responsibility for their own lives.

I want to give my own example here. I told my parents directly that I want to build my career in writing. I know very well that building a career as a writer is extremely difficult and comes with no guarantees. Maybe I will never become a great writer. Maybe I will struggle my entire life.

But if that struggle or failure comes, the accountability for it will be mine — not my parents’.

One reason I was able to make this decision is that I accepted a simple truth: I have nothing to lose in this world. One day I will die, and that day could be tomorrow — or even today. My youth will also fade away someday. So why should I be afraid?

Whether I become successful or remain a failure, both will disappear with me one day anyway. So what exactly is there to fear?

It is this truth that gave me the courage to say: if everything will eventually be taken away from me anyway, then why not live the life I truly want to live?

At the very least, I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I lived life on my own terms — and no one can take that away from me.

I would rather live as a poor writer who is happy and content than as a rich but deeply dissatisfied business tycoon.

And this is what I want to say to my readers as well: Don’t be afraid. You have nothing to lose except your soul. Do what you truly want to do. But remember one thing — for every decision you make, you and only you will be responsible, both for your failures and your successes.