Life is Short

It’s been said thousands of times, but I’m gonna say it again. Life is short. Not only is life short, but time seems to accelerate as you get older. And because life is short, nobody will accomplish everything they want to do. You’ve got to prioritize and do the things that are really important to you. Now at the same time, life’s just long enough that you can’t completely throw caution to the wind and do nothing but what you want to do at the moment. It may work for a little while, but if you live strictly in the moment, chances are that life will catch up with you and you’ll suffer in the long run. Either that, or you’ll die young, in which case my second point is moot.

I’ve got a theory as to why time seems to accelerate as you get older. When you’re two years old, one year is half of your life. Now on a relative scale, waiting half of a lifetime is a long time to wait for anything. When you’re ten years old, one year is only one-tenth of your life, which isn’t as bad when comparing it to one half of your lifetime. When you’re twenty, one year is only one-twentieth of your lifetime… relatively smaller yet. And so it goes as you get older. That’s my belief on why time seems to go by at an ever-faster rate as you age. For each day that you age, a day becomes a smaller and smaller portion of your life experience, so consequently, it doesn’t seem like such a long time. As you get a little older yet, a week doesn’t seem so long. Not long after that, a month doesn’t seem like very much time. Before you know it, you’re planning decades in advance, similar to how kids plan a day or a week ahead.

“It’s not really that life is short, it’s just that death is so long.” The sooner you realize that life is short, the sooner you can get into living it. As you begin to get a little life experience under your belt, the sooner you realize what’s important and begin to act accordingly. It seems that when you’re young, it’s all about the instant gratification. As you hit your adolescent years, life becomes a huge sense of right and wrong. It’s not fair that you can’t stay up until 11:00, when your friends can stay up until 11:30. As you hit your early 20’s it becomes a combination of both, as you begin to explore your newfound freedoms… hitting the bars, becoming politically active, etc. But you still take the little things too seriously.

It’s only as you get the experience that you realize that life isn’t about instant gratification, material possessions, or who’s got the most toys. Life isn’t a contest, an event or a struggle. Life’s a journey. Yes, there will be events, struggles and contests along the way, but life is more than the sum of its parts, and the journey is about balance. A little bit of excess, a little bit of conservation. A little bit of outlandishness, a little bit of reservation. A little bit of give, a little bit of take. A little bit of love, a little bit of hate. It’s okay to live in the moment, but don’t be consumed by it. It’s great to plan for the future, but not to the exclusion of today. It’s okay to be angry, but don’t be consumed by the hate. It’s okay to want and desire, but not to covet and obsess. It’s good to be content with your lot in life, but not to the point of stagnation. Strive to keep growing. Endeavor to keep learning. Continue to take on new challenges. But remember to take time to appreciate what you’ve got while you’re on this journey. Repeat as necessary. If you completely gaff this tidbit off, you’re too busy living in the moment. If it rules your life, you’re too focused on what’s yet to come.