Life Is Not Short
The universe has existed for 13 billion years. Our planet has existed for 4 billion of those years. The average human in the United States lives for about 79 years. Not a long time by any means compared to celestial bodies.
But does this warrant saying that life is short?
Fellow Stoic Seneca the Younger says it is not short. He writes about this to his friend Paulinus, on one of his three hundred ivory tables:
Most human beings, Paulinus, complain about the meanness of nature, because we are born for a brief span of life, and because this spell of time that has been given to us rushes by so swiftly and rapidly that with very few exceptions life ceases for the rest of us just when we are getting ready for it. ... It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. [1]
I'll repeat that last bit, "a generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested".
"Well invested" being the key point here.
Time is a non renewable resource. There's a finite amount that we can either use or waste. Seneca says that we are greedy with money, status, and possessions but wasteful in the one resource that matters. Time.
Lost money? That's fine, you can earn it again.
Lost your car? You can get another one.
Lost your job? You can find another one.
Lost an hour of your time doom scrolling? Good luck getting that hour back.
Say no to things that don't matter. Quit early in things that are not working out. Be intentional with how you use your time. Don't squander it off thinking it's abundant.
Another point Seneca makes is that our life seems shorter because we put off living until we are fifty or sixty years old. He writes:
'When I am fifty, I shall retire into leisure; when I am sixty I shall give up public duties.' And what guarantee do you have of a longer life? ... How late it is to begin really to live just when life must end! How stupid to forget our mortality, and put off sensible plans to our fiftieth and sixtieth years, aiming to begin life from a point at which few have arrived! [1]
The status quo in the current work system is that we should work our asses off until 65 or whatever age the government deems is retirement worthy, and only then we should start living.
There are two problems here. First, we aren't guaranteed to live until that long, or more eloquently put by Seneca, "no one has had so much divine favor, that they could guarantee themselves tomorrow." Second, you won't be in the same physical or mental condition you were in your 20s or 30s. You probably can't execute a lot of the plans you had for retirement.
So why put off living?
We can choose to start living now. We don't need to make drastic changes like quitting our jobs or going on an extravagent trip to Europe. Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, says well-being is no small thing but is achieved in small steps.
You can design your life around this idea slowly and incrementally. Increase the amount of time your spend intentionally, whether that's traveling more, spending more time with family, or working towards a goal. Don't put these things off for a later time. A time which you are not guaranteed.
Another idea from the Four Hour Work Week is the concept of mini-retirements, you work for a few years and then take a 4-6 month vacation. This way you'll have the money you need to get by and still focus on doing things you enjoy.
You don't need to live on autopilot. Life is long for those who use their time well.
What I've Been Consuming:
Bad Science by Ben Goldacre. I'm a third through the book and it has been an entertaining and educational read. The book debunks popular beliefs about the medicine and food world while educating readers on what good science looks like so people can make decisions for themselves.
I've been binging through episodes of the How to Take Over The World podcast. Highly recommend the episodes on Thomas Edison, a man who utilized almost every waking hour he was given.
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- Text is from On The Shortness Of Life by Seneca.
