T

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

hey say age is just a number, but to some people it’s a very important
one—otherwise, women wouldn’t lie about being younger, and
ambitious young men wouldn’t lie about being older. Rich people and
health nuts spend billions of dollars in an effort to move the expiration date
from around seventy-eight years to hopefully forever.
The number of years we manage to eke out doesn’t matter, only what
those years are composed of. Seneca put it best when he said, “Life is long
if you know how to use it.” Sadly, most people don’t—they waste the life
they’ve been given. Only when it is too late do they try to compensate for
that waste by vainly hoping to put more time on the clock.
Use today. Use every day. Make yourself satisfied with what you have
been given.