Hey friends,

I feel like I need to give some sort of trigger warning this week: I want to talk to you about death again. I know, I've been talking about it a lot recently.

One of my best friends got into a bad car crash on Friday. She hit into the back of a car which was slowing down in front of her... at nearly 100km/h. Her car is totalled.

Doesn't sound good hey? Well, she fractured her sternum (chest bone) from the impact of the airbag or seat belt, and she's got a few aches and bruises. But for the most part, she's doing okay.

She's very lucky. And so are all of us—we all woke up this morning. In a parallel universe, my friend wouldn't have.

On May 7 last year, Whangārei Boys' High School student Karnin Petera Harrison died after he was swept away by the powerful current while on a school caving trip (see Abbey Caves tragedy: Whangārei Boys' High board to pay more than $500k after student's death).

Karnin thought he was going to have a good time caving with his mates. Instead, his life was tragically taken from him at 16 years old.

My friend's recent crash, and Karnin's death which has recently been back in the news, are really making me think about the fragility of life. Our lives can dramatically change, or end, in an instant.

The fragility of life isn't something we like to dwell on, right? It’s uncomfortable. It's sad. It's just not nice. We prefer to push it to the back of our minds, living as though we’ll always have more time (as I wrote to you about last week).

I don't think we should live in constant fear or sadness about death and tragedy. But I do think it’s worth considering: how would we live if we acknowledged how unpredictable life can be? Would we stress less about the small stuff? Would we be kinder to ourselves and others? Would we stop waiting for the right time to live life how we want to?

I'll be honest, I was pretty shaken up by my friend's car accident. Getting the crying phone call. Driving to the scene not quite knowing what to expect. Seeing the smashed-up car in the middle of the motorway, police, and ambulance. Jumping in the ambulance to see my friend. It was, in fact, a moment of fear and sadness.

But in these moments, when life reminds us of its tenderness and delicacy, we have a choice. We can either continue living like we're never going to die, or we can take it as an invitation to make the most of life.

Because while we can't control how long we have, we can control how we spend the time we're given.

Stay safe and make the most of it.

Ben x

p.s. Hoping for some more good luck and an easy recovery, Anna ❤️

👀 This Week's Standouts

📰 News article - The proposed Waikato Medical School has passed its first hurdle. The initial cost-benefit analysis of establishing the third medical school has been completed and has been found to provide ‘‘confidence for the project to progress to the next stage’’. There is still a significant amount of material to be considered and assumptions to be tested around the major project, with a comprehensive business case now underway. Let's see if it can make it past the second hurdle.

📺 YouTube video - A brilliant 13 minutes on how to write like Warren Buffett. It's the best short video I've seen that explains the importance of clear writing and tells you how to do it. Make your writing POP: Personal (relate), observational (teach), and playful (entertain). So good.

📰 News article - The NZ Herald republished its story about the high-profile New Zealanders that wrote letters of support for convicted rapist and richlister James Wallace. While the story doesn't mention him, this reminds me that Waikato University Vice-Chancellor Neil Quigley wrote the predator a letter of support. I wrote about it back in April, including the University's response.

✍🏻 Quotes of the week

By Mark Manson in his newsletter.

By Julia Cameron, surfaced in Tim Ferris' newsletter.