You Don't Need To Know You're Dying To Start Living

Life is random. Actually, let me rephrase that. Life “can” be random and oftentimes correlation doesn’t imply causation. When we experience bad luck, it's easy to think that we’re curse. However, that’s not the case. Bad days are moments in life, a split second in the grand scheme of the universe, that presents us with a challenge. In these pivotal moments, we can learn to assess the situation and react with intent. It's tempting to feed into the negativity, but we can learn to reframe the situation, get back up, and keep living.

Today’s episode is dedicated to the life of Zach Hunzinger. I recently learned about Zach’s story through world champ Chris Bumstead and it was beyond inspiring. It woke me up and he left us all with a great lesson, “You don’t need to know you’re dying to start living.” Life is unpredictable. Life is random. But we can all learn from Zach. You don’t need to know you’re dying to start living.

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Transcript

"You don't need to know you're dying to start living." – Zach Hunzinger

How’s it everyone, my name is Mike Cabuco, and welcome to another episode of the Love Notes for Life podcast, your creative space for amplifying greatness through gratitude.

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My worst class in college was statistics. I loved the concept of probability, but the coursework and formulas were just tough to digest. Also, it didn't help that on my first day of stats class, my professor already proclaimed that there was no way any of us were going to pass his class. 

He was an older gentleman with a thick German accent and the thickness of his eyeglasses could've probably burned a hole through the wall of our classroom. He had zero patience, and half the battle was scoping out his mood. There was always a high probability that he was in a grumpy mood, but if you needed help, you needed to bite the bullet and just go for it. So, you’d slowly walk up and approach him with his lion-like stare and you could already tell that if he had the chance, he’d probably kick the door open and redirect your path towards the outside of class. And here’s the fun part. Whenever you tried to show him your work, he would take that piece of paper and place it extremely close to his face. I guess they couldn’t make a strong enough prescription, but he’d take that piece of paper, scan it for discrepancies, and stare at you with a “come on this elementary” type of look and tried to help you by asking you a question. Of course, I’d just shrug, show off a hesitant smile, and took whatever help I could get.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed stats class even though it was made very clear that the class would be graded on a curve. Ah yes, the inevitable grading curve. I don't know if that's common in other majors or even in other universities, but grading on a curve was a common occurrence at UC Davis. Coincidently, funny enough, the curve actually draws its foundation from the principles of statistics. You would take all the grades in the class, generate the normal distribution, and pretty much assign a point or letter grade based on statistics. Outliers that deviated from the mean average of the class would set the ceiling and floor for the grading system. And it could be extreme. Like for example, you could score a 65/100 which is traditionally a D in the letter grading system, but with the magic of the curve, it could turn into a shiny new A+. And that’s how stats went pretty much for entire quarter. Even the brightest students in my class were averaging around 50-60 out of 100. It was a tough course and, in my opinion, I really disagreed with the usage of the curve even though it worked in my favor.

In fact, I really don’t understand why the university system has to resort the curve system to compensate with a tough curriculum. I mean, I feel like if you've gotten to the point where every class you take has resorted to grading on a curve, then either coursework is extremely hard for the timeframe given or the students are unteachable.

Commence the blame game, right? I mean, who's fault is it really? Is it the students? Is it the teacher? Or is it just the dead people that wrote the textbooks for stats 101?

Correlation does not imply causation. Just because there's a correlation between two things does not necessarily mean that's the reason for it to happen. For example, I had a lot of smart classmates. They could digest the engineering coursework easily and it seems like college was a breeze for them. However, just because they were book smart, didn’t mean they excelled in practical applications. The same classmates I had that were smart at memorizing formulas and excelled at taking test, struggled with the hands-on experience.

I on the other hands, enjoyed the practical work. However, unlike my book smart peers, I struggled with Scantrons and filling out multiple choice quizzes and exams because I tended to overthink the questions.

Correlation does not imply causation and just because one thing correlates with another, it doesn’t necessarily dictate the outcome of a cause and effect situation.

While the coursework was brutal, I always had a soft spot for stats class and I felt that there was always a sense of poetry and beauty behind the math. And, for better or for worse, I’ve always viewed statistics as a critical cog in the life that I’ve lived. And probability makes itself fully present in all aspects of our lives.

 I’m not sure if anyone has ever run this scenario through their heads, but if I'm crossing the street, I ensure a few things. If it's at an intersection, I make sure that I’m walking within the crosswalk, the cars to my left and right have stopped, the intersection light is red, and I try to get from point A to B in a timely manner even if I have to run across the street. In essence, I reduce the probability of becoming a statistic and losing to the real-life version of Frogger.

I may be hyper-analyzing every little detail of my life, but it happens when you go through life and experience a handful of sketchy moments with bad luck. Here’s some to name a few. I've broken my arm slipping on wet grass. I've been hospitalized in the ICU for 2-weeks straight because of neglecting my health. And I've survived a car accident that hurled my car into an irrigation ditch. Let's face it, it's hard to ignore the bad luck, but it’s even harder to ignore the associated statistics.

Anyways, so back to stats class. Thankfully, I passed the class alongside all my confused peers, but even though I passed the class, through the grace of the grading curve, I still left that class with a better perspective in life. I learned the value in understanding statistics and using probability as a guide to create favorable outcomes.

Which brings me to a favorite quote of mine that Tom Bilyeu likes to say and it goes like this, "Your life is the exact reflection of the choices you have made." And there is a lot of truth in that. And I'll add one more layer to it. Here's a saying I keep close to my heart. "If life sucks right now, you can feel sorry for yourself or you can make a change." Whenever I start feeling like a defeatist, I remind myself that if things aren't working, make a change that helps influence a better outcome.

But just because you make a change or choice, you can't 100% guarantee that it'll work in your favor. It all comes back to that phrase that correlation does not imply causation. You could go to school, learn the knowledge, and get the degree and still be unemployed because you lack work experience. You could strive to become the best athlete in the world, play at the D1 level, and still not make the cut to go pro because there's someone else that was much more vicious and hungrier to win. And the worst example I've witnessed was that I knew a guy that changed his life, got fit, corrected his lifestyle, only to pass away in his late 40's due to a heart attack. 

Also, one more since I’m amped up with examples. Here a contradictory one. I had a close co-worker that worked until he was 80. He was overweight, had a number of health issues, didn't practice the best values in life, would cheat on his work hours, and after work he would religiously drink gin and tonics like there was no tomorrow. However, his mind and attitude were sharp. He could remember numbers like no other and was able to keep up with the young guns. And if you could look past his questionable behavior and if you were on his good side, then he treated you with respect.

It makes you wonder; how certain individuals can live an entire life only to experience a few minor bruises whereas some folks try to do everything right and just because of bad luck or probability, life just doesn’t go according to plan.

Sometimes, life really just doesn't make sense and even though correlation does not imply causation, the whole concept of it can make life feel so damn depressing.

Yet, if there's one thing, I know for certain is that life is a pinball machine of randomness. No one can guarantee you with 100% confidence that what we do today will generate the outcome that we desire. It's a catch-22, a paradox, a dilemma that what you do could have the best intent but result in futility. And this is why negative people in the world still exist and will try to convince you, that no matter what you do, there are no guarantees so why bother doing it in the first place?

Well that doesn't help. It sure doesn't help people to stay motivated to even pursue a goal. But while it is an uncomfortable truth, where the advice does fall short is that it neglects human nature and the need to improve life's circumstances regardless of the mathematical considerations.

Take illness for an example and the chances we get to see another day of light. As I mentioned earlier and in a few podcast episodes ago, I was hospitalized and stuck in the ICU for 2 weeks straight for not taking care of my body. Then, after two weeks of rolling around in pain on my stiff hospital bed, I managed to help my doctors identify what was wrong with me. At this point during my lovely hospital stay, I was granted the option of surgery and a chance to finally get back to some semblance of normal life. However, right before you agree to any surgery, they make you fill out a form and have the talk, that while this surgery could potentially save your life, there was still a chance that it could also finalize, in ink, the last chapter of your life. But even if the odds were not in my favor, I pulled a Katniss, and was willing to play the game and lived another day.

Do or do not. There is no try. Remember that saying? By a little green Muppet that could move objects by placing his hand outward. No, not Kermit the frog. Yoda. people. Yoda. The wise Jedi, mentor of Qui Gon Jinn, Obi Wan Kenobi. The legendary Jedi that taught Luke Skywalker the ways of the force. Okay, sorry to the non-Star Wars nerds, but Yoda knew a lot about correlation does not imply causation.

Yoda’s saying of “Do or do not” depicts two options that we have at our disposable every day we wake up. We can get up and seize the day or we can stay in bed and do nothing. We can put in the mileage towards getting better at our goals or we could just stop pursuing them. And we can keep tending to our garden or we could let the flowers wilt and die away. Do or do not. There is no try.

And try. It's a good word. It's a good attempt. But when Yoda says it, he means to commit to your decisions. Don't half-ass your motives because there's really no room for dilly-dallying or indecisiveness. If you're going to do something, then commit to your actions and accept the results for better or for worse.

When I wrote my first book and started this podcast, I knew in the back of mind that this could all fail. I knew that I didn't have the resources to launch this brand into infinity and I knew that the reflection of my ideals would not agree with some individual’s framework for living. However, I cared too deeply in my values and my mission statement that whatever the outcome was, I was going to commit to my vision. I knew the consequences. I knew that if I kept pressing forward, that there was an associated risk of failure and maybe I should’ve placed that energy into other aspects of my life. However, I also knew that if I never wrote this book, if I never started this podcast, and if I never said the things that I needed to say, then I wouldn't have known what could've been and what can still happen.

Correlation does not imply causation, but intent drives causation.

So, here's how I see it. The certainty of our actions and our future is never guaranteed. That's a given and I'm willing to accept that. But what I'm not willing to accept is to do nothing just because things may not go according to plan.

And when it comes to patience. Progress can correlate with patience, but patience doesn't drive progress. I do believe that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity, but it shouldn't force us to wait for the right time and place to start making a change. I fully stand by patience as a good virtue to have and there's no denying it. But I don't use patience to get in the way of making progress. It's not a driving factor. It's a byproduct of progress. Don't wait for someone to tell you what you already know and what you need to do. Kick it off, be intentional with your actions, and keep moving forward.

So I’d like to end this podcast with an inspirational story that I came across a few days ago. Recently, I had the chance to watch Chris Bumstead's recap vlog of his experience and win at the 2022 Mr. Olympia and it was pretty inspiring. The way Chris presented himself as this calm, pretty chill, down-to-Earth dude was inspiring and the dedication he had for his talent in bodybuilding was motivating. During the recap vlog, it was interesting to see him rise from the pressure and the mental fatigue of prep and really kill it on the Mr. Olympia stage. And while I don't think I'll ever compete in bodybuilding, I truly had the utmost respect for Chris and his co-competitors. These guys shared a mental fortitude and a level of discipline that many could adapt towards their own goals.

And there was this one scene during his recap vlog that really hit home with me. I'm not sure when it went down, but he reached out and connected with a fan named Zach Hunzinger. At first I thought, well that's pretty cool of Chris to reach out to a fan, but then I soon found out that Zach had osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer with a 30% survival rate once it already spreads to the lungs and the other bones in the body. Despite being diagnosed with cancer, Zach had such a positive vibe that resonated with him, and he said something to Chris that just really hit home for me. He said:

"You don't need to know you're dying to start living."

He told Chris that the best thing that ever happened to him was cancer and that it really highlighted the importance of living life with the time you got. He believed in You vs. You and that most of the time, the only thing getting in the way of our goals was ourselves. After battling osteosarcoma for 5 years straight, on July 5, 2022, Zach passed away at the age of 21.

Every day leading up to the Olympia, Chris would wear this bracelet that Zach gave him to honor his memory and legacy. It reminded Chris, that his journey was not only his to bear and that his purpose served everyone struggling out there to make a difference in their lives.

I admit, I didn't think I'd ever cry watching a bodybuilding vlog, but Zach and Chris really helped me process a lot of things that I've been going through lately. Their words and actions of encouragement really was the necessary talk that I needed to hear and see. It reminded me that I've been granted all this time and I don't want to waste time not living.

And I don't know when my last chapter will be written or how it will go down, but what I do know is what I want to do right now. I know that I want to keep living to see my goals through. I want to still keep pushing my fitness goals and see how far I can take my athletic performance with the means I have. I want to keep succeeding in my career so I can build up the financial means to travel and see my bucket list destinations. I want to spend more time treating my parents to a life that they deserve and sharing memorable experiences with them for many more years to come. And most importantly, I just want to keep on living, keep on loving, and keep on experiencing what life has yet to offer.

So tomorrow, when you wake up and your body aches from all the struggles you've been through. When your muscles are in pain from all the training and the hard work that you've put in. And when your mind is tempted to tease the negative thoughts of the past. Remember, that tomorrow is a new day. A new day for new experiences and learning at least one thing that gets you closer to your goals. Tomorrow is a new day, to take the lessons of the past and learn to do better in the present. And if it feels like progress isn't happening, take a step back and look at how much you've grown from 10 years ago. Celebrate that victory and know that you are better today and that’s what counts. And what’s another year or two to achieve your dreams. You’ve worked this long already to achieve your goals and I know you’re capable of doing more. I believe in you.

So tomorrow is a new day to take one step forward, do the impossible, and start living.

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Thanks, y’all for tuning in to another episode of the Love Notes for Life podcast. I look forward to continuing this conversation of awareness and amplifying greatness through gratitude. If you’re enjoying the Love Notes for Life podcast, please subscribe and leave a 5-star rating on Spotify, Apple, and other major podcast platforms. The Love Notes for Life apparel and book is now available at lovenotesforlife.com. For the latest updates be sure to track the mindset by following me @mikecabuco on Instagram or Twitter.

Thanks, y’all for the support and always remember, “There is beauty in knowing that there is only one of you.” Take care.