Monday, November 10, 2036.
That’s the day I’m expected to die according to DeathClock, billed as “the Internet’s friendly reminder that life is slipping away.”
While I don’t believe my death will occur on that particular day and do hope I’ll live quite a bit longer than age 79, I find myself thinking both about the quantity and quality of the years I have left, no doubt prompted by the fact that I will turn 65 in a month.
On the short end of my projected lifeline, I think of my parents, both of whom died at age 70, my dad after a year-long battle with lung cancer (no surprise as he smoked for 50+ years) and my mom in an instant from a heart attack linked to Vioxx, the drug she was taking to help manage her arthritis (a drug reported to triple the risk of heart attack). If I die at their age, I have five years left.
On the other hand, if I live as long as my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather, I have 25 years left.
Either way, I hope to stay mentally, physically and emotionally healthy so that I can spend my time doing things I enjoy and making a difference in the lives of others.
The desire to do so has got me thinking back to one of the best books I read in 2020: Die with Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins. Thanks in large part to it and to a financial coach I recently hired to help me shift from saving for the future to enjoying my money—and my life!—now, I am finally beginning to do so.
So whether my death comes next year, in 2036 as predicted by DeathClock or, as I hope, years after becoming a healthy centenarian, I am determined to hear the ticking clock as a call to action rather than a countdown to my final days. I hope you are as well as I’d love to have you and all Word Sisters along for the journey.
Comments
6 responses to “The Clock is Ticking for All of Us”
Having just turned 70, the time is of utmost importance to me. I carefully choose what I want to do, and let the other stuff fall by the wayside. I’m no longer doing what people expect of me, but rather what I expect of me. And that is to enjoy every day, to find the joy, to leave the anxiety on the side of the road. I wish you well in your next decade to do likewise.
Appreciate your response. I turn 65 later this month and am determined to live more fully and less anxiously moving forward.
I think the older we get, the more we realize that our days are, indeed, numbered. Which is all the more reason to live each day as fully as we can!
A useful perspective—thanks!
I’ve never heard of the DeathClock, but I imagine it has an important message to live life to the fullest!
That’s the way I interpreted it…live now…and fully…wish I’d started years ago.