This week I lost one of my Great Grandmothers, she had just turned ninety- nine. Yes, you read that right 99 years old. Her death made me think a lot about time. How much time she had, how much time we thought she had left, and how much extra time I wish I had spent with her. I thought about how on her 99th birthday I said, “I’ll for sure have to go see her when she turns 100,” like that day was guaranteed.
I also thought of a video I once saw about jelly beans but had never really related to until here recently. So, right now I want you to take two minutes to watch this video. Guys, seriously watch this video, RIGHT NOW, it could be two very important minutes of your life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOksW_NabEk
Now, let’s discuss this.
I’m a super visual person, so seeing the days of our life broken down like this really stuck with me. Most of us, including me, usually think of our lives as being indefinite. We don’t usually think of our days running out or really have any sort of visualization that there is an end date. Just as I had thought my Granny would make it to 100, I never even considered we would lose her 3 weeks later. However, seeing the jelly beans slowly being taken away until there was only one single bean left, sort of threw away this notion.
Not only was it shocking to see our days slowly disappear, it was also crazy to see just what we spend the majority of our days on. SERIOUSLY, over 2,000 days spent on watching television (P.S. this video was published in 2013 so that doesn’t even factor in the major trend that is Netflix Binge Sessions). We spend about 4 times as much time watching television as we do caring for others. If that doesn’t make you feel something, I am not quite sure what will.
After we take out all of the “required” days spent on things like work, commuting, and bathing we only have 2,740 days left for whatever else. And those days, are starting at birth. So, think of your age. How many of those 2000 odd days have you already used up on things like checking Facebook, worrying about something, or even arguing with a friend or loved one. How many days do you have left? If you knew a number would it make a difference?
That is the beauty of life though. There are no certainties. Just as my Great Grandmother lived to 99, and probably had much more that 2,740 days left; others are gone in their youth and receive much less. We never know when our beans will run out, and we never know just how many of those extra days we have left.
If you knew you only had one bean left, I know it wouldn’t be spent sitting on the couch checking your phone or computer. It wouldn’t be spent working over time, or complaining. It also wouldn’t be spent questioning what your next move would be.
So, if we don’t know when our last bean will arrive shouldn’t we treat any and every day as if it were our last bean? Now, I know that we can’t spend every day being adventurous and having fun, but we can add special moments to every day. Instead of putting off tomorrow what we could do today as I did, we should do what we can when we can. Seize every spare moment of every day.
Because, if someone labeled my jelly beans I wouldn’t want to see that I spent more time watching Netflix than I did laughing. Or that I spent less time playing with my dog than I did checking facebook. And I would really hate to see that I spent more time fighting than I did saying I love you.
