In my office, I have taped to my wall, an infographic called “A 90-Year Human Life in Weeks”. (the source of the graphic is from Tim Urban’s wonderful website, Wait But Why) So on this day, I decided to see just where I am in my life, and with a red sharpie, drew a circle around the block that represented this week.
When I was “younger”, I had the luxury to imagine the future. “When I grow up, I’ll be doing this and I have accomplished that.” When you’re 46, like I am, you realize that now is the future you had been thinking about. There are only a finite number of weeks left to do what needs to be done.
There are so many things which needs “doing”.
What would the 85-year-old version of me say that I should be doing? That’s a reflection that often brings me some clarity.
However, Joseph Campbell once said, “Life is like arriving late for a movie, having to figure out what was going on without bothering everybody with a lot of questions, and then being unexpectedly called away before you find out how it ends.” You don’t really know what you are meant to do within this larger universe. You don’t know how much longer you have.
What if life was in the moment? If this week was all that was left, how would I make this week count?