The Present Is Short
Image from Pixabay
“What foolish forgetfulness of mortality to postpone plans to the fiftieth and sixtieth year, and to intend to begin life at a point to which few have attained in good health!” - Seneca
Hitting a big milestone age can do strange things to one’s mind. For me, it has made me yet again re-evaluate if I’m doing and living the life I want. Am I fulfilled in life?
I have a been a big Stoic believer for many years now. The quote to start today’s lesson is from one of my favorite Roman Stoic philosophers, Lucius Seneca. And from his essay, “De Brevitate Vitae”, or “On The Shortness Of Life”, he speaks to living in the present and living intentionally and purposefully.
I’ve found the more I consciously consider death, the starker the contemplation of life becomes.
Humans are incredible wasters of time.
In fact, Seneca mentions that we are so good at protecting other valuables that pale in comparison; things like money and property. But we can always make more money and buy more property, or even build it, but we cannot make more time. It is our most precious resource, and yet, we treat it like it doesn’t matter.
I fall squarely in the range of the Millennials and let me tell you something, we have been THRU it. I’ve seen:
Y2K
9/11
The Great Recession of 2008
Global Pandemic of 2020
And those are just disasters! That’s not even including skyrocketing student loan debt, wage stagnation, and a housing market that’s laughably out of reach.
But even through all of this, we still cannot lose sight on what is most important:
Life on this planet is finite.
I know it’s hard. Because how can you even think about embracing your love for dance or art, or hiking, when a dozen eggs cost $10 bucks (I’m not even being facetious about that. Inflation is UNREAL in March 2025!).
It’s frustrating and it’s depressing, but still I urge you to take a deep breath and really think about this because in 40 years, regardless of how great or how poorly the economy is doing, you’ll still be faced with having lived a life 4 more decades.
Are you still only thinking about eggs?
Now I’m not saying be irresponsible. I’m not saying throw everything to the wind, sell it all, and go build a cabin in the middle of nowhere Montana (no offense Montanians? Montanans? You get what I’m saying).
I am suggesting that you take a hard look at the life you are currently living and ask yourself if you were to know you were going to die in 6 months if this is still the life you’d want to live. Our brains have a really hard time with infinity, but if you give it a deadline, a lot comes into focus.
So regardless of if you’ve turned 40 or not, make this the year you figure it out.
