If You Are Living Like This, You Are Already Dead
How many years will you spend fast-forwarding?
As we grow older, time seems to fly by.
Years pass, and before you know it, you’re old, and your life has slipped away.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
When you were a child, ignorance of time was bliss:
- You weren’t rushing through life, focused on deadlines, work, and retirement
- You didn’t live for vacations and escape from your daily routine
- You didn’t worry about the passing of hours or days
You simply enjoyed the present moment of playing hide and seek, coloring, or playing football during break time.
But as you age, you become more aware of time’s passing and take it for granted. You may find yourself busier than ever, but you are going through the motions. Time tumbling away without meaning or purpose.
Probably, not the outcome you envisioned when you thought about what you wanted to be growing up.
Welcome to the modern human experience
We’ve got everything mixed up.
Instead of trying to slow down time, we rush toward illusions and sink deeper into the chaos of life. We are pursuing goals or things that we don’t even want.
- The endless cycle of being in the busyness motion while not really going anywhere.
- The race against the clock, pursuing a future that never arrives
- The fear of missing out on the trivial world around us
In the end, we’ve been influenced to believe that wealth, fame, and prestige are what we should strive for. We spend years, if not our entire lives, courting other people’s agendas and society’s success measures without considering our aspirations.
However, time begins to slow down as we draw closer to reality, our authentic selves, and our true desires.
Light, the foundation of reality and the essence of existence stands still at the speed of light. The closer we get to Light, literally and metaphorically, the more we can embrace reality and genuinely live rather than helplessly fading away like staring at a ticking clock on the wall.
The American Lie
Hollywood movies and the globalization of the American Dream have pre-empted the quality and quantity of our time in pursuit of money.
Take this example from Scott Stockdale’s article here.
Could agree more with his quote on the screenshot:
No shade on this guy, but if I had kids, I’m pretty sure I’d watch them play instead of responding to randomers on LinkedIn.
And the worst part is that we all are this guy, to a greater or lesser degree.
- The hardworking dad whose most profound joy is spending time with his kids, but that time is limited: he has to pay because of his family’s luxurious spending habits.
- The innovative entrepreneur who dreams of building a successful business but is constantly caught up in empty meetings, sacrificing quality time for brainstorming, strategy development, and nurturing relationships.
- The nature enthusiast who longs to explore the great outdoors but is tied to a demanding corporate job, leaving only rare opportunities for brief vacations.
- The passionate artist who dreams of creating masterpieces but takes on multiple high-paid meaningless jobs leaving little time for actual artistic pursuits.
- The aspiring writer is chasing freelance gigs and ghostwriting projects, sacrificing personal writing time and creative freedom.
Instead of sacrificing our future by chasing high-quality possessions or status, we would benefit more from having fewer material things or ranks and prioritizing the quality of our time.
You’re Already Dead
Choosing to spend half your waking hours in an unsatisfying job just to make ends meet is the highway to your deathbed.
A slow-paced life makes time appear to move faster — it’s Einsetin’s relativity of time.
Moments of freedom when you do what you desire seem to vanish too quickly, and before you know it, you’re back to the daily grind. You might as well not be living during work: you are a zombie full of regrets behind the desk. Time becomes a harsh taskmaster instead of a liberator.
Due to time dilation, most people are much closer to death than their age suggests.
Think of the movie Click, starring Adam Sandler. His character receives magical remote control that allows him to fast-forward, rewind, and pause life.
He starts with a promotion that costs him over ten years. From there, the remote learns his addiction to the fast-forward button and starts to do time-skipping automatically.
By the movie’s end, he finds himself on his deathbed, having lived what he thought were the “best parts” in less than a day.
So, the question is, how many “best parts” will there be, and how many years will you spend fast-forwarding?
You may be young, but closer to death than you think.
Timely Final Words
Slowing down time is about quality, not quantity.
The destination you strive for must be deeply desired. On the wrong path, time will fly by, and what you do during that time will be forgotten.
The goal is not an infinite amount of time but the highest quality of time.
That’s when you do the Click.
And time indeed slows down.
