09/30/25 — The Quiet Arrival of Decline (Journal Entry Dissection: #NotWell #Horror #Death)

Kurt Bell
Sep 30
2 min read

Updated: Oct 3

About These Posts

Each day I add a new journal entry to my social media feeds. Here on the blog, I expand that entry through the lens of my Good Life Creed, which you can read about in my book Going Alone (available for free on this site). These dissections aim to connect ordinary reflections with the enduring objectives and principles of the Creed.

Journal Entry (09/30/25)

I forgot to attend my own office hour yesterday. The time came and went without me, which startled me, since during my entire career I never once missed a meeting out of simple negligence. When I finally remembered, I caught myself in a stern little talk—like a parent correcting a child—and promised I’d do better today.

What troubles me isn’t the missed half hour itself, but what it may suggest. These small cracks in my ability to carry out what I set for myself feel like early signs of age. Perhaps I still have a decade or more before such things become a real concern, but I can already sense the edges of change. In that light, I’m grateful my life’s main work is complete. If decline comes sooner than expected, at least I’ve left nothing essential undone.

Still, I’ll try again today to keep my small promise: to sit for thirty minutes in my office hour on Discord, from 10:00 to 10:30 AM Japan time. And if I should forget again, then please accept my apology in advance—from a man adjusting, perhaps earlier than expected, to the quiet arrival of decline.

Dissection

This reflection brushes against several themes in the Creed, particularly around aging, mortality, and readiness. The “quiet arrival of decline” is more than a personal note — it’s a reminder of the universal condition we all must face.

#NotWell (Life Will Not Go Well) — Life rarely unfolds according to our plans; missed promises and faltering memory are part of its natural resistance.
#Horror (The Horror Show) — The unsettling recognition that decline is inevitable, and beyond our control, reflects the indifference of the universe to our will.
#Death (Be Always Ready to Die) — Gratitude that nothing essential remains undone is an embodiment of readiness for death, and for the losses of ability that precede it.

Takeaway

Notice the small cracks in your own routines — the things that slip through your grasp despite your best intentions. Instead of fearing them, use them as prompts to prepare. Strengthen what can still be strengthened, and let readiness replace denial. The quiet arrival of decline is not an end, but a signal to live deliberately while we still can.