Life is short...

— 2 minute read

I stumbled across this interesting article by Paul Graham on how short life is. I started reading it and couldn't stop till the end. Almost the entirety of the article resonated with me. I struggle with managing my own time between work, friends and family, and constantly keep questioning myself: am I spending my time doing things that are meaningful? The shelter-in-place quarantine measures because of COVID-19 have made it a challenge to be at home and focus on different important things.

Some highlights and conclusions that I took from the article:

  • Life is actually short. There is a finite number of days that you have, make it count. It is important to be intentional about this — otherwise life just drifts by.
  • Prioritizing time for family, especially kids, is hard work. But it's totally worth it in the long run. (if you are rolling your eyes over how obvious this is, I guess you haven't had the struggle yet 😂)
  • Work hard to distinguish stuff that matters versus those that do not. The heuristic of "will this matter in x years" is a good one.

As I think about this topic, I am reminded of the verse from the Bible where Moses prays:

So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.

May it be that we all get to the end of our lives and look back with wonder, amazement and how good a journey it was. Here is also an awesome song (one of my favorites) on the same topic.