Eight months ago
I wrote that old age terrifies me. Recently I have been thinking about (old) age again. I was thinking how you don't know how old you will get but can only expect at what age you die, and/or at what age you will become so sick or crippled that it will be almost the same as being dead. How do you adjust your life to match these expectations, and this uncertainty? Do you 'spread out' your wishes for life over the better part of 80 years, expecting to reach that age, or do you assume you will die tomorrow and live on the edge? Or something in between? Which leads to the concrete question of how best to live your life.
To me, living each day as if it is your last seems a bit excessive to say the least. Enjoying yourself as much as possible and not loafing about wasting your best years, on the other hand, seems like a good idea. I feel a strong need to do the things I want to do in life in the coming few years, before I possibly die in a freak accident or whatever.
As I wrote before, I am afraid that my body will fail me when I am still fairly young. This may happen, I just don't know. I try to take the best possible care of my body in the time I have available for it (exercising, etc.) but still there is the uncertainty. I realised I am living like a man not expecting to live past thirty. Long-term commitments, especially kids, are out of the question. This spring and summer will be dominated by cool outings and activities. Et cetera... What else can I do?
"I am not afraid of death,
but the prospect of a dull life
frightens me to death."
I can think of nothing worse than planning to do such and such around age X, or postponing activities time and again...
and dying before you can do them. What a shame that would be! As illustrated above, the fear of no longer being able to do things that are on my 'wish list' has a huge influence on me. Without this fear I imagine I would be a very different person, perhaps settling down again and taking it easy - spending most of the summer on the balcony or in the garden with a stack of books and not really going anywhere. The idea alone frightens me.
Life is too fragile to be taken for granted, and too beautiful to waste just sitting around.
I fully agree with the phrase: you must live your life as if every day is your last! When you wait until you are retired it may be too late too enjoy..You can have a heartattic at 65! You better take a sabbatical for a year or more, when you are younger and in good health!
ReplyDeleteOffcourse you should life your life to the fullest while you still can, but you should also plan ahead, before it's too late to do the things that just take a while to built up to, like having a family for example. Maybe you'll yearn for it later on, but then it will be too late (but that applies mostly to women I guess).
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I'm glad I'm not a woman ;).
ReplyDeleteMaybe this could help : http://zenhabits.net/overplan/
ReplyDeleteI recommend even reading the whole blog as I find it very instructive, and his posts are always brief and to the point.
Another interesting link : http://zenhabits.net/contented/ (I guarantee it's not spam !) It's only because I recognise myself in the feelings you describe, and I have found that blog to be helpful, that I recommend it to you.
ReplyDeleteWow, I hadn't read this one in quite some time. It stuns me to see I considered life to be beautiful then. Speak of 360° turns... I will bookmark those links and have a look when I have time.
ReplyDelete