I’ve already mentioned how I enjoy listing to Dave Ramsey. Last week I was listening to his EntreLeadership podcast that had Robert Smith as a guest. The interview was about Mr. Smith’s recently published book inspired by the author’s discovery of an app that allowed him to calculate the number of days he’d been alive. Of course, being easily influenced, I had to do the calculation myself. You can too with this webpage.
Wow, I’ve been alive more than 15,000 days! Lately I’ve been feeling a bit fussy because I’m not where I want to be at this point in my life, so seeing such a high number of days that I’ve been alive seemed a little sad. Then realized two things:
- If I were where I wanted to be, I’d have a heck of a long time left in life to coast! Peaking too early is a curse!
- I’ve done a lot of cool things in my 15,000 days.
I started writing a list of the cool things I’ve done, and then I realized that the first few items on my list really had nothing to do with me, they were merely things I’d witnessed or where I’d tagged along:
- A night launch of the space shuttle
- Riding in both a submarine and a blimp
- Seeing Patrick Stewart and George Takei perform live (in different shows … on different continents … yes I am a geek)
It was that last one that reminded me I’d actually DONE cool stuff, too. Living abroad is pretty darned cool. And it’s not like I’m just sitting around picking my nose (they took that expression quite literally in England – I had to watch myself) now. I’m simply feeling a bit inside my own head.
Days before listening to this podcast, I read Where’d You Go, Bernadette? in two sittings.
It was a tremendously fun read that left me wanting to go out and live my passion … only it didn’t tell me what that was. I have something that I am pursuing, but will I want to do that for the next thirty years?
Dang it! I’m trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up! I know better than that! If it is something that will make me happy for the next 5 – 10 years, I should jump. I’m known for that! I recently read an article that said that if you can’t decide what to do, pretend you are giving advice to a friend in a similar situation. It’s based on the idea that it’s easier to see what other people should do than making our own decisions. My answer to myself raised my own hackles!
While I can see myself reading too much into that, I think I really need to quit trying to analyze my life when I haven’t slept longer than an hour and a half at a stretch for nearly a week! Although I get right back to sleep, it is really affecting my brain function: I can’t seem to shake the mental fog.
Does anyone else get caught up in his/her brain, thus making decisions more difficult than they need to be? or Did you find out how many days you’ve been alive? or Has anyone ever read a book that inspired passion following AND then told the reader what that passion was? A girl can hope!
Grown Up, Now What? 
Ha – complicating my own life? Making decisions more difficult than they need to be? All the time. If I got paid for it, I’d be wealthy. 🙂 You’re completely normal. It is indeed possible to think too hard about things. Sometimes a little quiet is all we need. The trick is figuring out a way to get that to happen!
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So glad I’m not alone in my internal crazy making! Quiet time is an excellent solution. Thanks for reminding me that that is normally what allows my sane inner voice to be heard over the rest of the chatter in my brain.
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Tammy I loved this book! I read it on a ship going up to Alaska with my daughter and we’d just left from Bellingham, Washington – so the whole northwest thing and humor in that book was close to home. I saw that you tweeted me about this book today – sadly, I’m still Twitter illiterate. Just can’t seem to get to it. I’m going to look up that days link – I wonder how many days I’ve been alive. What a great way to look at the passage of time – rather than so many years, which, really can get lost in the counting – knowing the days would make one stop and ponder how one is spending each day. And really – it’s the moments that we remember. For the most part.
I also like the idea of making a “cool things I have done” list. You’re so cool – YOU would think of that.
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I knew you would love that book! It is so us! What a marvelous entry into that world, too: spending time with your daughter in the Northwest.
I’m reading another book you recommended and loving every bit of it: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. It’s almost as fast of a read as Bernadette! You sure know how to pick them.
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