100 Years on Earth

I titled this blog around a subject I frequently like to direct peoples mindset towards or at least make them think about for 5 minutes of their lives. The concept is simple, “If you have 100 years to live, what do you do with that time?”

The answers seem simple right? If this were a test it would be an easy A+ right? …go to school, get a job, get married, have some kids, retire on a boat…. But your answers are certainly more relative and abundant than that right? These examples are all the things your parents told you to do or society tells you are the right things to do with your life. They are certainly not wrong by any means, there’s much truth in this agenda. But do we need 100 years to do that? No…maybe 35 or 40 of them at best.

Many of us have already achieved these goals and at a relatively early age, less the retirement to a boat goal. So now you’re 30 years old and are waiting to retire followed by waiting to die at 100 years old. If you’re reading this you’re probably sick from thinking that this is quite literally the just of your life. Fear not, on the surface it would seem so, but you have so much more in you to develop and exploit….self included.

We’ve all read about, saw on Nancy Grace, or watched movies that show an abusive relationship. The woman (or even a man if it’s verbal/mental abuse – wussie!) loves this guy but then one day things go awry and the man decides his argument is no longer any good so he resorts to hitting the woman to get his point across (I said NO more Ramen noodles woman!). The woman loves her man so she can’t leave. Thus a vicious paradox of beatings and love. Eventually, in the end of the movie the woman either leaves ot kills the husband and in both cases the result is the same – she has escaped with her life to carry out the way she wishes. My point here is many of us need to either break up with the agenda and grind we’ve been stuck in or stick with it but find another way to live a fuller life.

We’re on this planet to live our lives out and pass the buck to the next. 100 years is a long time considering some of us are only 25, 30, 40 percent of the way there. It takes approximately 4-years to graduate from a University (if you’re like me 5-1/2 but in my defense I have two degrees). If you work at McDonalds forever and make little income school seems so far off and out of reality. It costs too much money or you don’t have the time. The fact is that sacrificing those 4 years of hard earned low income is difficult because we all have bills, but for those of us who can tighten the belt the pay off by comparison is incredible. My point here is don’t ever think you’re ‘stuck’ in some situation and can’t go get what you want or deserve.

Let me make my own reference here. I have gone to school and got my degrees, got a great job which I love (some days more than others), I’ve gotten married, and right now just a shade too selfish for kids but eventually that will happen as well. If we’re counting off the checklist from above, I’ve completed all items but the retirement part….I’m 28. 28% of my way to 100 years old.

The human race is living longer lives each year that passes so 100 is not unlikely but not a given. To get to 100 years you need to live a rich, fulfilling life that your heart beats for and your lungs refresh themselves with.

Learn how to play an instrument, that’ll take 6-7 years to get good at. Go back to school to be a doctor, you wanted to when you were a kid anyways – there’s another 7 years of your time. Start the business you always wanted to, take out that loan and fail miserably – but you’ll never know until your try and you have a few decades to pay that loan off.

Learn as much as you can and teach it to others along the way – this is the easiest to do and cheapest for that matter. Watch others make mistakes and learn from them then teach your kids. Watch the Discovery Channel and learn how to work with sheet metal to make something great like artwork (something that can outlive your 100 years).

We all want to leave a legacy and become history that kids and scholars read about but few of can ever achieve this. There is only one Caesar Augustus, one Bill Gates, one Jesus, or one Nelson Mandela to write about. We can’t all be written about but we can strive for excellence in our lives. To many of us are “too tired”, “stressed”, or “put down” to be great, but all of us have this potential we just need to go get it.

I believe we should strive to be the best that we can be. You can’t fail. Are you trying to be the best you can be or have you thrown in the towel and lost sight of what your heart wants to do and knows you can if you just tried? So, my question is, what do you do with your 100 years? You don’t have to answer on this blog but at least give it a thought. You’ll be surprised how much better your life can be if you free yourself from the regiment of everyday and complacency.