All our days are numbered. No one has ever outlived death. At the end of your life, what is the measuring stick you will use to determine if you lived a worthwhile life?
We all age and we all know we are eventually going to die. There’s that funny saying that says nothing is certain except for death and taxes. It’s a simple saying and for the most part we all believe it but how does it affect our lives? One of the truest sayings I’ve heard is that we all know we are dying. However, we somehow naively believe that we’re invincible until tomorrow.
Most of us live like there will always be a tomorrow and this mentality makes us very shortsighted on the life we live today. We put off dreams and goals. We may later get around to some things that are important. We push back start dates for working on our dreams, most of the time until it is too late- we lose our youth, our hunger, our drive, and/or capabilities. Old age turns the corner quickly and before we know it, we’re in a different stage in our lives.
What really matters to you? How often do you spend time on the things that matter to you?
So how do we zoom out and keep perspective on this bigger picture? How do we keep the understanding of death close to us so that we ensure we make the most of the time that we have. How do we live a life so that by the end of it, we feel satisfied that we lived a life worth remembering fondly in our own minds?
It starts by knowing your measuring stick. How will you measure your life? By what criteria will you measure it by? Will it be how much money you have in the bank? How many lives you impacted? How many countries you have visited? How many friends you have? How many followers follow you? What will really matter to you? By pondering these questions, you may begin to uncover your deepest values and through this understanding, live them on a regular basis to ensure you are making the most of the time you are gifted.
Think about it this way. Can you imagine reliving your youth with the knowledge you know now? What would you have done differently? What different decisions would you make? What experiences would you like to relive and be more present with? We do not have the power to turn back time but we can peer into the future through our reflection and imagination and get a glimpse of the things that will matter to us so that we can better live those values out today.