We all think of time in different ways. When we were in our teens, long term thinking was next week. Things change rapidly at that age. As we get older, next year is long term. Maybe we can afford to go on vacation to that special place. In our forties we think a little longer term. We think about how we are going to pay for our kids’ college educations. We think about the possibility of a promotion in a year or so if we can keep focused on the goals of the company. At fifty we begin thinking a little further ahead. Will we be in a position to be able to retire early or even retire at all so we can do all the things we’ve dreamed about? At retirement age we think when will I run out of money?
It seems the older we get the longer we think ahead. Why didn’t we do this earlier? Here’s my reasoning. At a younger age things change faster. We learn to read. We learn to play baseball, run, jump, swim, or ski. We think of next week as a long time away when it really isn’t. Next school year is forever away. We talk about old friends we met last summer. We think about the old days as last Christmas. Old friends are people we’ve known for weeks. As we get older old friends are people we known for five years, then ten, then twenty and then fifty! My first grade girlfriend I’ve known for over fifty years! And she’s only twenty nine…again.
We all look back at our lives and think, “Man I should have….” fill in the blank. We ask why youth wasted on the young. The truth is we never did everything we wanted to do or could have done. We all did a few things we shouldn’t have and some people did more than a few. Nobody wishes they watched more TV. But this is life. Just remember to always have a few more blanks (memories, good times,) than regrets. Nobody ever does everything right all the time. If they did they’d be far richer than anyone…. If only I could go back and……. But I can’t so what am I going to do with the rest of the day, week, month, year, and life? It all starts now.
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