“first thing i'd do during a zombie apocalypse is give up”

hope, the will to live, and finding something to live for

Maze Runner. Divergent Series. The Hunger Games. The Fifth Wave. The Thining. 2012. The Day After Tomorrow. I Am Legend. A Quiet Place. World War Z. Greenland. Bird Box. Tomorrow War. San Andreas. A Quiet Place. I could go on forever.

End of the world/post-apocalyptic/zombie/dystopian movies are my vibe. There’s something about watching hopeless individuals risking it all and defying the odds to stay alive… for an extra two weeks or so. Fighting off aliens and the elements just to see their daughter or darling again.

And I don’t get it.

We’re talking about the end of the world here. Out-of-planet, Homo sapien-eating blind monsters who can track human beings based on increases in heartbeats over 97.3bpm. And you’re leaving your safe space in the woods because you’ve heard a doggy radio broadcast claiming that there just so happens to be the ONLY life-saving antidote in an abandoned research facility. But it’s 300 miles away in the epicentre of the chaos. Okay.

Take the movie Love and Monsters for example. This scrawny, helpless guy leaves his underground colony to find his girl, who he hasn’t seen for the past seven years because of the rise of these monsters. On the way, he almost dies, gets lost, and his dog runs away. All this to find out that his “girlfriend” isn’t feeling him anymore, but she thought that the effort was cute. I’m so sorry to say this, but at that moment, everyone must die.

Dave has some advice for this guy at the 3 mins and 16 seconds mark of his song Clash featuring Stormzy.

But there’s a common thread that is interwoven throughout all these films. Hope.

Our society hates hope. “It’s the hope that kills you”. It hates the idea of having something to live for unless they can see it with their own eyes. Trusting that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hope is expensive and expectation can often lead to disappointment. And that’s why many of us search for meaning and hope in things that fade. We need that tangible motivation before our lives start to make sense.

If I’m being honest, recently I’ve been losing the will to live.

Sidenote: I just want to make it very clear that I don’t mean this in terms of mental health but more to do with a lack of motivation.

There’s a line from 0121 rapper, Jaykae, that states:

For those who don’t know, a yute/youte is a child. And I find this phrase interesting. Jaykae felt like he lacked purpose until he was a father.

But that’s what I’ve been struggling with. In all these movies, the will to live is based on love or a deeper search for an answer, the truth, a solution, yadda yadda yadda.

But what about those of us who don’t have anything to look forward to or any hope in this life. What then? So, unless we find a life partner, start a brand/business, or see some real change in our lives, then our lives our worthless?

Do you get the point I’m trying to make?

I’ve come to terms with the fact that my life can still be void of external push factors e.g., a job, a relationship, side hustles, and yet still be meaningful.

As I grow older, I’ve come to the realisation that I can still wake up in the morning and have something to live for even if I don’t have something going on for me at that moment.

The things that we all strive for in this life, money, power, success, love, self-worth, value, purpose etc., are all things that can be taken away in a flash. And if they are, they shouldn’t be the things in life that give us hope. Take it from someone whose been unemployed and felt hopeless and worthless because of it (will have an article on this soon).

Hope shouldn’t be based on circumstances. The fact that I have a tomorrow, gives me hope no matter what I’m going through.

I’ve concluded that I no longer look for the light at the end of the tunnel because the light lives inside of me.

Just in case we end up in a zombie apocalypse or an end of the world level extension threat, I know that I will find the will to live. Not because there may or may not be something to live for, but because there is hope in tomorrow…

Nah I’m lying. I’m still giving up. I can’t be asked for all the nonsense.

Love, Peace & Blessings,

Abs.