Life Is Short
After my mother died in 2018, I wished I’d spent more time with her.
One day I get to fly back home and give her one big hug, then the next day she’s gone unexpectedly.
I knew she was sick but I thought I was going to have more time with her.
I made the assumption that she was going to be around for a while, even with her sickness.
But it was nothing more than wishful thinking.
I think we all have made this mistake at some point in our lives.
We assume we have all the time in the world to do things that matter, when in reality it can all end in a second.
I miss my mom.
I constantly think about all the things that we could have done but we didn’t.
One thing that helps me sleep at night is that I know she was happy seeing her son out in the world doing his own thing even when that meant I wasn’t going to be around that much.
Memento Mori: Remember You Are Eventually Going to Die.
This powerful idea is one of the pillars of stoic philosophy.
Life is short and death is imminent.
What if today was the last day of your life?
I know it sounds depressing and uncomfortable and it can send us in one of two directions: we can fear and dread it or we can leverage this to help us prioritize what’s important.
Death can help us make the most out of the experiences we have.
Let’s stop pretending we are going to live forever.
Each second that passes by is one we are not getting back.
Children Put Things In Perspective
Becoming a dad has reinforced the idea that life is short and time is limited.
It has also forced me to become better at time and energy management.
Time management has essentially boiled down to doing things that matter, savoring the time I have, and relentlessly cutting all the bullshit.
Lucia will be 3-years old next year.
I don’t want to have any regrets with her and want to maximize every single second we have together.
To Lucia, all that matters is that I spend time with her and I am fully present.
Whenever I’m playing with her and I find myself checking my phone, she’s quick to grab my sleeve as I’m staring at my phone and say “no phone TaTa”.
And she’s absolutely right.
Being present is the best gift I can give her and she’s all that matters at that moment.
What Matters To You?
Different things matter to different people.
In my experience, finding out what matters to you is not that simple.
Unless you are one of the lucky ones that know early on what matters to them and focus on that.
But for the rest of us, it’s a gradual process of constant experimentation to figure out what truly matters.
What are the things that you most want to do?
Once you figure it out, don’t wait.
Don’t wait to write that book.
Don’t wait to start that podcast.
Don’t wait to reach out to people you want to be friends with.
Don’t wait to visit your mother.
It doesn’t matter if other people think it’s not important.
It’s important to you and that’s all that matters.
Don’t let the day rush you by without chipping away at the things that matter to you.
Life is too short to give your time and energy to things that don’t matter.
Life is too short but it can be long enough for us to make a difference.
