Saturday, August 18, 2007

DON'T Live Each Day As If It Were Your Last.

I was in the gym today and it occurred to me it was time to drop the thought: Live each day as if it were your last. If it were my last day, I would not start a work out program, I would not hire a weight loss coach, I would not end or start any major relationships, I would be worse than hopeless - I would be someone who didn't even have a thought about hope - ful or less.

Here are some of the other reasons why that philosophy is no longer working for me:
  1. Living each day as if it were your last can be very past focusing.
  2. Living each day as if it were your last can be needlessly exhausting - do we really have to cram all that in?
  3. Living each day as if it were your last can be defeatist.
  4. Living each day as if it were your last can be limiting.
  5. And finally, living each day as if it were your last closes doors and finishes chapters rather than opening doors and starting new chapters.
For a while I was thinking I'd suggest "live each day like it was your first" as an alternate strategy. But the problem with that is, on your first day anywhere, you are likely to have no idea what's going on. So that's not exactly right either. So how do I want to live each day - as if it's a gift, an opportunity, a challenge?

For advice on this, I turned to my fabulous 8-year-old nephew who has been visiting me for the week. I asked him to rank by age me (34), George Bush (61), his mom (41), and our sister (39). He said: "I guess you are all about the same age." OUCH! Really?!!? So then I asked about this girl who lives on his street. She is 21, but he's known her since she was in high school - but, she does have a new baby. He admitted she was probably younger (than me and George Bush) but he was sure it was not by that much.

Remember that? Remember when anyone who was an adult went into one big pile? These were the people who had it all figured out. This was the aspiration. When I am old enough I will:
  1. know what I want to be
  2. write my own rules (or at least know what they are)
  3. not have anyone boss me around
News Flash little Joey. It doesn't quite work out that way. I can list quite a few folks in their 60s who are still trying to figure out the above. Still waiting until they are old enough.

And so... I present to you .... my newest truism.

LIVE EACH DAY AS IF YOU BELIEVED YOU WERE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW EXACTLY HOW YOU WANT TO LIVE IT!

Okay, pithy it's not. I'll work on that. But I think it's got potential. And it saves me from waking up every morning and calling everyone I have ever loved and telling them what they mean to me.

Don't be shy - click on that comment button and edit me - or at least, tell me your truism!
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2 comments:

  1. Me6:34 AM

    great points... I've felt the way you describe about that quote but never explained as well as you just did why it's really kinda silly.

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  2. Anonymous1:14 AM

    I agree, I have never cared for that phrase "Live each day as if it were your last." From the first time that I heard it, I thought it was bad advice. But what that phrase tries to capture is the sentiment that you should appreciate today as if it were precious - the last opportunity to appreciate anything.

    There is a variant from Ghandi:

    “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

    I recently changed that phrase. I teach seminars on goal setting, focus, and other self-development areas. I have been trying this phrase (also not quite as pithy as I would like):

    "Show love each day as if it were your last. Use your mind and body as if you were going to live forever."

    What do you think?

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