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We Only Have Weeks To Live
Using a spreadsheet to consider your mortality
When I was in my late teens, the about section on my Facebook profile read, “Live slowly.”
It wasn’t a maxim against ambition or drive or seeking accomplishment, it was a simple reminder to savour it all. To notice time as it moved by.
But, at some point, I deleted those words from my profile.
I moved on, sometimes rushing through years that seemed to blend together, sometimes being a bit more cognizant of my life and time.
But the best times, the times when I’ve enjoyed more, accomplished more, and noticed more, have been those when I was most aware of my life in its finiteness, its shortness, its coming conclusion.
We only have weeks to live.
On average, an American life lasts 4,372 weeks.
Life is short.
You’ve heard that. You know that. But, if you’re anything like me, putting a number to it can make you feel, well, uncomfortable.
For obvious reasons, our egos don’t like to think about that and, for many of us, life is hard enough without considering our mortality all the time.
