Month: September 2018

I’d asked myself what I’d do with one year left to live, but I should have also asked what I’d do with 70 more years to live. Not everything can be accomplished in one year. Learning to play the violin at the level of the Boston Philharmonic probably takes some time.

I wish I had started earlier. I should have chosen goals with varying timelines and worked toward them simultaneously.   

It’s become a new game. Subtract your age from a hundred (or, if you’re really ambitious, 120). Think of the social movements you could lead or be involved in, the skills you could master, the experiences you could have, the ideas you could come up with, the wisdom you could gain and pass along in that amount of time. It’s amazing.  

I’ve wasted the last twenty-five years. I can’t go back in time, but I can make sure I don’t waste the next twenty-five.  

One of the classic questions to ask yourself when trying to figure out what to do with your life is What would you do if you had a year to live? 

I don’t remember where or when I first heard this idea, but every now and then the question would resurface, and I always had the same answer: I’d go on a huge road trip all over the country.  

This went on for years- possibly even decades- until last summer. Nothing special happened. Nobody died. I didn’t hear a story that made a huge spiritual impact. I was sitting in my car at a red light and the question came to mind again, along with the same answer. I thought, Is that what it’s going to take? Do you actually have to get diagnosed with a terminal illness before you start doing what you really want to do? Is that what you want to happen? Of course my answer was No!!!!!!  

We’ve probably all heard stories about people who planned to travel the world when they retired, only to die young and never live out those dreams. Why wait? Why wait to visit state parks with phenomenal hiking trails until I’m 97 and in a wheelchair? There was nothing stopping me except my own fear and laziness.  

That day, I stopped thinking of a road trip in terms of some far-off fantasy and started asking How can I make this happen (now)? I started to think about the road trip as inevitable; I just had to come up with the logistics. 

I brainstormed. Hotels, an RV, couchsurfing, bicycling, a travel trailer, backpacking, a van, cheap motels, tent camping, a tiny house, hostels, a pickup truck with a cap, volunteer vacations, travel for a cause and find a sponsor… I researched, weighed the pros, cons, and realism of each option, test drove a few larger vehicles, and even tried sleeping in my sedan three different nights. In the end, I bought a tent for the price of a one-night stay in a cheap motel. That tangible step became the first flake in a snowball that rolled onto the highway.