Statistically, I should live to 82.5.
Nothing sobers you up faster than checking out your best before date using an online calculator. Except, perhaps, doing the math on how much of that life you’ve currently used up. Almost 39%, in my case.
It leaves me approximately 18,250 days in which to get ‘er done. Whatever ‘er’ is.
18,250 days to either work or play. Or do a bit of both, or neither.
It gives me 438,000 hours to watch my kids take their first steps, fall off their bikes, complete their first week at summer day camp. Four hundred and thirty eight thousand hours seems like a lot. It’s not. I just wasted one of them on Facebook.
This wasn’t an exercise in trying to scare myself, or give me anxiety about death. Let’s face it, any one of us could be hit by a bus or struck by lightning tomorrow. (Speaking of lightning, we had a pretty close encounter a few nights ago in a campground in Banff. A bolt of lightning struck about 50 feet from our campsite. The thunder sounded like it was inside the trailer. Fireball + smoke. Pretty wild.)
An exercise like this helps you prioritize. Focus. Be present. If I only have 438,000 hours (and while we’re doing the math, I only have 157,680 hours with my kids until they’re 18. Minus sleeping hours. Minus the 40hrs/week that I’m working.) then I better be fully present in those hours. Not thinking about the hours that have passed, wishing I’d done something else with them. Not forecasting what future hours might bring.
Being fully present, day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute. That’s the key to getting the most out of the 61.3% of my life that I’ve yet to live.
Which is maybe why I’ve been a little inactive here on the blog. I’ve been pursuing those projects and things that most closely align with my priority in life (outside of my family). That priority is helping people change for the better, and putting my diabetes diagnosis to good use.
I’m doing that in a couple of different ways right now.
First, I’m doing a little blogging (along with some workshops and soon, an online course) over here.
Second, I’m trying to reach more people more efficiently through the use of webinars, like this one. Webinars are slick, if you haven’t taken part in one. Like going to a live workshop, only often free and you can go in your pajamas, from your couch. What’s not to love?
I encourage you to go and check out your life expectancy sometime. You never know, it just might inspire you to stop reading so many blog posts and get out for a walk.
seetheconnection 