When it comes to hardships, there is no manual or handbook that shows us how to cope with the rocky times. Some people pray, some may bury themselves in work, others dive deep into relationships to busy themselves. There’s no saying which coping mechanism is correct, however, they all accomplish the goal of softening the blow.
The US and many parts of the world have been grieving the loss of NBA icon Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gigi, and the 7 individuals that lost their lives in a tragic helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. The incident came as a complete shock to us all and made us reflect on our own lives. Transitioning from our physical form is inevitable at some point, however, you have time while you’re here to make an impact as large as Kobe did. Here are some of the takeaways we gathered since his passing.
Our Time Here Is Short
There’s a saying that I grew up hearing which was “You’ll be older way longer than you’re younger”. This saying always stuck in the back of my mind because of how accurate it is and how you don’t realize the accuracy until you get older. As teenagers and young adults, we don’t realize how fragile life is.
We complain and take almost everything for granted, especially if we’ve been privileged to not experience suffering in our upbringing. The death of Kobe, Gigi, and his close friends was felt on such a large scale that it reminded us all how much time we don’t have. Anything can happen at any moment that can alter your entire life – for better or worse. This tragedy reminded me to take small steps every day to unlearn bad behaviors, work harder to leave behind a legacy, and show more compassion for the other humans around us.
Social Media Is More Damaging Than Helpful During A Tragedy
If you felt like you needed to unplug from social media over the past week or so don’t worry, you are not alone. As powerful as social media can be for sharing information, it can be just as damaging when handling sensitive information. When Kobe’s death was announced, the story, victims, and the scenario was reported wrong by several publications before it was confirmed. There was also a report that the news broke before the family could even be notified.
Media coverage plus the overwhelming effect of social media not only hurts the information being passed along but also invites trolls to make jokes and is harmful to the family themselves. Using any social media platform that day was almost impossible because all you would see is news about the loss.
Protecting your mental health during this time is so important because of the magnitude of the situation. Another layer of complexity was finding out that young children also lost their lives in the accident – Gianna (13), Alyssa (14), and Payton (13). It can be really hard to accept that something like this happened so don’t feel bad if you need to filter out. You can send condolences and grieve in your own way, however, you do not need to use social media to do so.
What Will Your Impact Be?
Accepting our own mortality can be a tough pill to swallow depending on the person, your beliefs, spirituality, etc. Some people can easily accept the fate of mankind, while some struggle with the inevitable outcome. Instead of taking your brain through a tug of war, take some time to focus on what you want to leave behind. Whether it’s a family, a business, your memories with others, or an iconic career – make sure it’s something that will outlive you.
The one thing that struck me the most with the loss of Kobe, GiGi, and others were the genuine stories that people shared of them all. You can tell those were real feelings of people who touched others in many ways. We should all strive to be more like this and spend our time focusing on what our impact will be.