What Do You Have To Show For It?
2023 is coming to a close. It is around this time that most of us gear up for the transition to the new year with aspirations for change and growth, aiming for improvement.
We may even ask ourselves what we have to show for how we spent the last 12 months.
Yesterday, I thought on a much larger scale after realizing that I would be turning 37 in exactly three months. I began to process: 36 years, 429 months, 1,860 weeks, 13,050 days, 313,200 hours.
That's the rough estimate of how long I've been on this planet. And what do I have to show for it?
Honestly, I think quite a bit, but if I take the nearly 192,000 hours I've spent on Earth since the age of 15 under the knife, I'd be devastated to learn how much I have truly left on the table.
(I use the age 15 because that’s about a time that we can begin to make decisions for ourselves. Personally, that’s the age I began to start drinking.)
Let's examine a much smaller sample size. Regarding my health, relationships, and contribution to the world/work, I have very little to show for the 98 hours accounted for this week. I'll spare you the details, as they weren't spent with much purpose (granted, I've been recovering from the COVID-19 virus).
"Many times an old man has no other evidence besides his age to prove he has lived a long time." - Seneca
Self-auditing may be challenging but is necessary before the hours at our disposal run out.
Let's give it a try. To determine how long you've been alive, multiply the years by the appropriate measure (e.g., years x 12 months; years x 52 weeks; years x 365 days; years x 365 x 24 hours).
So, how many hours have you been alive? More importantly, what do you have to show for them?
The answer for many people would be that they don't have enough to show for the time spent. They would likely concur with me that plenty has been left on the table and that valuable time has been taken for granted.
Of course, it is only in our nature to seek more than we have. And it is also quite uncommon to constantly feel that we've done our very best, regardless of what we do have.
"I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do." - Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey
One day, the opportunity to act will have passed beyond reach, and reflecting on what we have to show for the time we've spent may not be worth the dwindling hours left on our timeline.
If you have the privilege of setting goals and resolutions over the next week, I'd suggest setting the intention to value the time that you do have and prioritizing the things that matter.
Perhaps, when our time comes, we'll be blessed to take one final look and find that we didn't sit idly by as the hours passed—but rather lived them fully.