1 Year or 100 Years
I think it’s safe to say, that most of the time, most of us don’t think about how much time we have left in our lives. If we do happen to think about the nature of time, it’s usually from a place of fear. We don’t want to get old and die, but we will most certainly die, and we will probably get old, if we don’t die first.
If we’re lucky, we have some sort of event that opens our eyes to the fact that time is precious, and we mustn’t take it for granted. For me it came through the deaths of my family members. While I wouldn’t say I’m lucky my mom and sister died, I would say I’m lucky that I was able to walk away from those events with a new found appreciation of my own mortality. I was inspired to live my life how I wanted to, because I knew my time would someday be over.
There is an inherent danger that comes with this type of thinking. If we assume we only have a limited time to live, say a year, we might live somewhat recklessly. We might party our asses off, shun all responsibilities and take a rather selfish outlook on our most valuable resource: time. There is also tremendous opportunity. If we know our time is limited, really KNOW it in our bones, we are more likely to follow our dreams. And we should follow our dreams. All of us have way more potential to do way more awesome things than we think we do.
A good way to find balance between fearlessly following our dreams, but also not acting completely recklessly, is to examine two scenarios, and try to find our place in the middle.
Scenario 1: you have exactly one year to live.
Scenario 2: you will live to be over 100 years old.
If we take an honest look, either of these scenarios could actually come true. We might die soon, in an unexpected manner. We might also live much longer than we ever thought we could. Life expectancy has steadily risen, and advances in technology might be able to keep us healthy for longer than ever before.
In our first scenario, we could realize our time was truly limited, and use that to be our best selves. We could follow our dreams, help others, and try to build something that was going to outlast our short time on earth. In our second scenario, we would know that we had plenty of time to truly accomplish great things. Think about how much has happened in your life so far, now imagine having 3 or 4 times that amount of time, to work and build something great.
The first scenario can bring the fear that we don’t have enough time to do what we really want to do. The second scenario can make us complacent, always putting off for another day what we could be doing today. After all, what’s the rush if we have another 60 or 70 years?
My friends, the balance lies in the middle. First, we need to realize that our potential, as human beings is truly great. We can accomplish a fuck ton, in a short amount of time if we really dedicate ourselves to our dreams. This is the gift of the first scenario, if we knew our time was limited, we would really put it to good use. Well, news flash: your time is limited in either scenario.
If we take our potential, and put it to good use in the second scenario? Well, holy shit. Imagine how much YOU could change the world, if you put your full self into your dreams for the next several decades. Think about how much can change in a single year, let alone 60!
The long and short of it is this: we don’t follow our dreams often enough. Either we don’t think we have time, or we think we can do it later. We need to adopt the attitude that we both do and do not have time. We need to embrace the opposites.
Fact of the matter is, our time is limited, but we have no idea what that limit will be. We might die today. We might die when we’re 110 years old. No matter what the scenario, shouldn’t we make the best use of our time while we still have some?
Dear friends, thank you for reading. As always, one article is given freely every month. If you’d like more you can subscribe for $5/month via the button below! If you know anyone who might benefit from these words please feel free to forward. As always, I welcome questions or comments.
In other very exciting news, my wife have recently launched an online school! The Blossom Yoga School is open for business! It’s a culmination of our years of practice, study, teaching and running yoga studios/teacher training programs. Our first course is online now, check out the Blossom Yoga School!
Thank you kindly,
Miguel