Saturday, August 07, 2010

Life's Short and Getting Shorter

When I was a younger, I never worried about how long I would live. Thus, I never developed a life list outlining the experiences I wanted to have. For most of my life, I felt closer to the beginning than the end. I expected that I would have enough time to experience everything I wanted. However, now that I'm in my fifties, I definitely feel the end is closer than the beginning. This is confirmed by the Social Security life expectancy calculator which estimates I have an average of 30 years remaining.

For most of my life, I didn't feel rushed to see many of the natural wonders in North America, e.g. the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, etc. Now I feel a greater sense of urgency to visit these sites, when I think there are about 20 summers left in which to travel since we have a five year old daughter. We'll need to make definite plans each summer to visit at least one site. Hopefully, our daughter will appreciate the major summer trips:-)

As for other life experiences, I'm satisfied with what I have done. My remaining life experience to complete is to raise our daughter successfully to adulthood. For now, I don't feel that there are any major missing life experiences I need.

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

This is not financial or personal development advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i agree, i just retired this year at 48 and if i stayed home a day, i still feel like i wasted a precious day. Of course, it was worst when i was sitting behind a desk doing a job that i wasnt really enjoying anymore. Cant imagine that most people work until they are 65.