Your internal clock is faster than you think

Lariat Editorial Board

Can you hear me now? (Or are you text messaging?) Are you dancing forward with life? (Or are you simply listening to your IPOD.)

Are you driving an old clunker so to focus on college success? (Or are you working too many hours to pay for that new truck?) Are you working hard at your math? (Or having daily recitations of ‘I’m no good at math’)

Are you “Taking Charge”? (Or are you hoping to win the lotto?) Stereotypes are sometimes wrong, yet, can be painfully correct. Here I address the generation of ‘the late teens/early 20 ‘something’s’!

Yes, individuals are unique! Yes, many of you are in focus, determined, committed, and directed! I fear you may be the only ones who read the newspaper!

Regardless, if you happen to see yourself INSIDE any parenthesis (above) please read on!

Speaking for myself, I can’t believe I’m “Sixty Something”! A grandparent for one year! Did I say grandparent! Who me? Proud of it! Yet it symbolizes a powerful paradox.

How did I become this old…and this old so quickly!

Answer: one tick of the clock at a time! It the same clock YOU have! Tick! Tick! Tick!

This past Fall Semester, I worked on sabbatical project regarding Elder Care. Among realities: growing number of us who are/have been/soon will be involved in a degree Elder Care!

The secondary spin off: How amazingly quick we each reached this stage of our lives! Dealing with our Elders in Need! Good grief! How did THIS get here so quickly? Tick! Tick! Tick! How soon might we need our own Elder Care! Tick! Tick! Tick!

A related spin-off of my sabbatical has been an increased awareness of what I call “The Speed of Life.” Shock wave after shock wave the last two years, losing my father-in-law; college mentor; best life long friend; mother-in-law; best buddy/colleague from Saddleback College; and, most recently, my brother! Other colleagues have lost loved ones too: friends, parents, siblings, spouses…you name it. It really is an ere feeling when ones friends and loved one start falling away…and falling away frequently! It stinks! Tick! Tick! Tick!

HEY YOU ‘TWENTY SOMETHINGS’. Wake up! This IS about YOU too! Believe it! Ask your parents/grandparents/neighbors!

Blink your eye three times, YOU TOO will be 40! Two more time, YOU’RE at 50! SIXTY SOMETHING is unbelievably close!

So ask yourself, how are you doing today on your SPEED OF LIFE? Need to kick it in gear? Go to class! Study for that exam! Sell that truck! Write that Paper! Lastly: learn to enjoy working hard AT YOUR LIFE…TODAY and all future TODAY’s. You owe it to YOU! Tick, Tick, Tick…

Comments

comments