Why I use a Lifetime Calendar
I use a lifetime Calendar. I stil use the daily or monthly calendar. They are useful to mark any important dates I don't want to forget. I started using Lifetime Calendar once I knew Life is short. No I don't have cancer or some incurable disease. Irrespective of it everyones time is very very very short. As a geologist who learns about rocks and fossils seeing millions of years. Humans just came to earth very very recently. As a human we have a very short life span when you consider from a grander scale of Earth.
So I have One calendar for my whole life. No yearly, weekly, daily calendars. This calendar is only for me it has nothing to do with any other external festivals or activities.
The general daily calendar is a common for everyone around the world. If it shows Friday it is Friday for everyone but a Lifetime calendar differs from person to person unless we are born on the same day, month and year.
So what is a lifetime calendar?
Attached above is my lifetime calendar which I have it on my wall.
The calendar is simply rows and columns of circles representing my life in weeks. I just black out each circle once a week. Horizontally it shows all the weeks in the years and vertically it shows all the years you will have to live considering you live upto 90 years. ( I wish lol )
This calendar reminds me of the time I have left. You must be wondering what the red dots are. So The calendar is for a 90 year old but the average life expectancy of a person in Tamil Nadu is 73 so I have marked the dots from 74 to 90 in red. I would consider that to be extra brownie points ( Kind of like the Dairy Milk ad Kanna Rendavathu Laddu Thinga Assaya? ) for me if I live till 90 and above. Haha. I will happily get all those years without any thought.
How this calendar has changed me!
As our parents raise us and teach us everything to become an adult how to handle situations and stuff. No one is teaching us about Death or our passing away which will eventually happen someday. The only constant till now has been, a human passing away when the time comes, no one is prepared but everyone has to face that this is a fact. So having the calendar reminds me of the precious time I have in this blue little dot. By reminding this every week I have become more calm and any tensed situations don't bother me much. I have seen in a lot of movies once the main character knows that he is terminally ill and will pass away in a few weeks or months he tends to live in the moment. It is something on the similar line for me too except I do not have any illness.
This made me to think, If a person once he knew that he has limited time left he tends to become more calm and happy. So that means the majority of us who don't think about the our demise don't enjoy our life? spending time in meaningless activities, not spending time with their loved ones, etc... So I would like to propose a question, think of your day today and think if you only had a few weeks time to live will you do it? Will you do the exact thing you do now? is there some activities that you will not do because those are meaningless, like scrolling your phone mindlessly, getting angry at small things, overthinking, eating unhealthy food, etc...
I am not pointing you to schedule your life and count each and every second. The whole point is to enjoy life and the given time you have. This was never an intention to race or be the first. Take your time and savour it like how you would do it for the pulpy and juicy mangoes in the summer time. No need to rush! Cut it, slice it and enjoy every bit of the mango which I do every time I eat a Mango. Do the same for the time you have. You don't have to do nothing just stare at the sky and have a peaceful thought instead of glueing your eyes to the screen. There is a difference between having a calm and peaceful time and having a constant dopamine hit for every second.
Have some fun! Do try to taste unhealthy packeted foods those are yummy indeed! But don't do it mindlessly! put some thought into doing things! Recommend having a weekly Lifetime Calendar too! It puts some perspective in you on how to view your life. Life is short so take risks! Wanted to try something new? do it! Wanted to always confess your love to that person? do it! Wanted to always try that famous food? do it! Enjoy your life! Have fun! At the end that's all it matters! If you had a good time or not! You have been born in this beautiful world to enjoy things! Travel! Eat! Laugh! Cry! Live!
Whatever you do, do it with the joy of doing it! At least try it!
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