“Life, we learn too late, is in the living, in the tissue of every day and hour.”
Carnegie, Dale. (1948). How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever said this: “I can’t wait to achieve….”
We all do this. We spend our present
My parents died at 57 and 61, respectively. While I am not a statistician, this made me realize that my personal time on this planet is limited. I may not live long enough to achieve financial freedom again. I may not live until tomorrow even; I could be hit by a truck as I walk to work for all I know.
Many people realize that, like me, they may never achieve their goals. They decide to enjoy life as it comes since nothing is guaranteed aside from our now.
While I may not live to see tomorrow’s sunrise, I live in hope of experiencing many more. While I may not live to achieve financial freedom I choose to live my life as if I will by planning my life and finances accordingly.
Yet I’ve realized that over the past two years I’ve spent the majority of my time working towards that uncertain future. Instead of savoring the life I have today I have kept myself focused upon the steps I want to take to achieve my overall goals. Instead of today, I’ve consistently focused upon my tomorrow, be it my next day off, my next investment, or the next stage of college.
I’ve taken some time off to consider what I really want in my life, focusing on the areas that don’t require money. I asked myself: if I were scheduled to die tomorrow, how would I want to spend my today?
The answer was surprising in its simplicity. If I were to die tomorrow, I would want to spend my today resting, reading, and writing one last blog post to pass on anything I believed might help you as you continue your journey.
I wouldn’t stress over pinching pennies. I wouldn’t constantly search for my next investment. I wouldn’t send every last dime I’d managed to save to my brokerage account. While I wouldn’t spend myself broke, I would allow myself to buy some new music, download an ebook that caught my interest (as opposed to waiting for a physical copy to arrive after I died), then I would stretch out, take a long relaxing breath of thankfulness, and quietly savor my last day on earth as I listened to the new music playing in the background.
That is something I can do right here and now in my current life. All I have to do is shift my focus. I can achieve the life I desire to an immense degree without having to wait and hope for a future that I may not live to see.
This is why I started taking time off each week to relax. This is why I began to eliminate drama from my life.
And this is why I encourage you to do the same.
Goals are a wonderful thing. They keep us alive and moving forward but it’s neither healthy nor productive to sacrifice every moment of your now striving for a future you may not live to attain or complaining that it hasn’t arrived yet.
Today I want you to take a few moments to step back from your entire life. Ask yourself how you would want to spend today if you were scheduled to die tomorrow. Focus upon the things that don’t require money.
Would you want to spend your last day enjoying your family? If so, make arrangements to simplify your schedule so that you can start doing that now.
Would you prefer to spend your last day free of drama? Then begin cutting the major sources of drama from your life.
Would you like to be free of the endless chores that come with caring for a home? While you may not be able to eliminate them entirely, you can begin to pare down your possessions and streamline your routine to eliminate much of the overhead.
Would you like to take one final trip before you leave this life? Start making plans and saving up so that you can take that trip in the foreseeable future.
You can still work towards the future, but you don’t have to sacrifice the entirety of your now to achieve it. I have discovered that, by simply shifting your priorities a bit, that you can live the life you desire to a significant degree immediately.
Take a moment to comment upon how you would want to spend your last day of life below. Share the steps you intend to take now to make that happen. Then share this post with the one friend is sacrificing their now to worry about an uncertain future.
Thank you.
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I plan to discuss the specific ways I’ve began to streamline my life in order to spend more time doing the things I enjoy without sacrificing my goals for the future. If there is a particular subject you would like for me to address, leave a comment below.
It depends on how much lead time I have knowing the date. I would have done some different shopping at the first of the month, for instance, so that I could go to an ATM and pull out whatever cash I had to give to people I care about. But let’s say I found out this morning over my breakfast of cold pizza and Mountain Dew that I have until eight a.m. tomorrow to wrap up my life. I’d pay a couple of bills, make sure my roommate has all my access codes and passwords to my Facebook, the utilities and such, and I’d pass the torch of a campaign I’ve launched to make sure we who receive SNAP have full access to our benefits at a local grocery chain to friends to carry on in my absence.
Then I’d finish my pizza.
Sounds like a plan!