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Why Are You Afraid of a Mediocre Life?

On our obsession with legacy, our fear of being forgotten, and why meaning may have nothing to do with being remembered.

Sep 17, 2026
∙ Paid

Two weeks ago I finished Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar’s book about a man so desperate for his life to matter that he wants to die for something. I closed the book, sat with it, felt genuinely changed as a person. That lasted about nine seconds, which is how long it took me to open my phone and check my subscriber count.

That’s the whole essay. You can stop here.

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