It's Just A Number

The Daily Stoic for December 13th, “It’s Just A Number”.

“You aren’t bothered, are you, because you weigh a certain amount and not twice as much? So why get worked up that you’ve been given a certain lifespan and not more? Just as you are satisfied with your normal weight, so you should be with the time you’ve been given.”

—MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS, 6.49

I’m 38. Well, in less than a month, I’ll be 39. 39 is goddamn close to 40. And 40 is like… well, like a lot. Yes, I know it’s just a number, but it’s a very important one.

The average life expectancy for someone like me is 82 years, so that means I’ve walked half my path on this earth. So how that feeling makes me feel?  

It’s Just A Number

When I was about to become 30, I bought a ticket to Iceland. I rented a jeep, and traveled through the ring road -a road that goes around the coast of Iceland in an almost full circle- on my own. I slept in local farm accommodations along the road.

It was just me, my jeep, and the stunningly beautiful Iceland.

I made that trip because a part of me refused to be a 30-something old guy. I have always thought of me as a young, dynamic person, and suddenly I was going to turn 30?

Turns out, it was one of the most enlightening experiences of my life. Being there alone, in the wilderness, with just my thoughts and those astounding landscapes, made me realize that I was no longer that immature teenager, and triggered a lot of inner changes that will take me, eventually, to quit my job and change my life completely.

I’m turning 40 soon, and I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’ll be lying if I said that for me, it’s just a number, but I can certainly affirm that life makes you realize it’s not that important after all.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “It’s Just A Number”, discusses age, and how something as insignificant as an artificial construct of mankind can have such a great power on us.