Learn to number your Days.

You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.― H. L. Mencken

I recently lost my Mum on the 31st of March 2019, it was one of the toughest days of my life. My mum was sick for a while but never thought she was going to be gone so soon. She battled cancer for 9+ Months and it was a roller coaster year but she did not survive it.

The following days, weeks and months have been extremely tough -the overwhelm, the despair, the withdrawals, the tears, the silence from so-called friends and family members, the longing to have just one more conversation with her, the memories.

We all grief differently and life can be cruel with its twist and turns, losing her also brought one more thing into my Life: Learning to number my days, having a sense of urgency and finally understanding the real meaning of Life is Short.

” You are either coming from a Storm, Living a Storm or you entering a Storm”

As long as our life seem to be, it is also extremely short. I finally understood that assertion about the brevity of life with the passing of my dear mum. I was recently watching a Warren Buffet video on youtube in which the interviewer requested to interview Warren and he replied him saying: He had less than 4,000 days (10+ year plus to live) that got to me and I finally got it.

We all have the same amount of time, how we spend it while we are still here is what really counts when all is said and done.

Fear not that your life would come to an end, Fear that is shall never have a beginning – Newman, John Henry 

My Mum died at 54+ years, she was going to be 55 on May 23rd 2019. Calculating 54 years times 365 equals 19,710 technically she was here for just 20,000 days. The life expectancy in USA is 79 that means the average American would be around for 28,835 Days approximately 29,000 Days while the life expectancy in Nigeria is 55 years which means the average Nigerian would be around for 20,000+ Days. When you begin to look at your days in terms of days, weeks and months; you might get a new perspective about time and how to spend it.

55 years :

365 x 55 = 20,075 Days
52 x 55 = 2860 Weeks
24 x 20,075 = 481, 800 Hours
60 x 481,800 hrs = 2,890,8000 Minutes
60 x 2,890,8000 Mins = 173,448, 000 Seconds

The key to learning to number your days involves re-ordering your priorities, re-aligning your values and purpose. Imagine a long life of 90 years old and how it might be spent:

Average sleep per day – 8hours – 1/3rd – 30 years of sleep
Work time – 1/3rd – 30 years of work
Screen Time – TV (2), Social Media (2) – 1/6th  – 15 years

2/3rd of a typical life would be spent sleeping and working, just think about that for a second. As long as 90 years seems, if you are lucky to be here for that long. A lot of our time is unaccounted for because we are not mindful of it ticking by the day with activities such as:

Endless phone calls with Friends/Family/Acquittances

90 Years life phone call since adulthood = average 2 hours per day for 70 years = 1 month per year = 70 months = 6 years calling by year 90.

90 years life commute time since adulthood = average 2 hours per day for 70 years = 1 month per year = 70 months = 6 years commuting by year 90.

The above calculations is not accurate but for argument sake lets add it up for a 90 years life:

Sleep time – 30 years
Work time – 30 years
Screen Time – 15 years
Phone Call/Communication – 6 years
Commute time – 6 years

Total = 87 years

2/3rd of our life would be spent sleeping and working, for 90 year life that amounts to 60 years.
Screen time(15) + Phone Call/Communication (6) + Commute time (6) = 27

If we add the above together that equals 87 years spent doing the above activities and we have just 3 years left. You see as much as the years looks very long even for a 90 year old life, 3 years is really what you have. The above does not even include activities such as cooking, parenting, listening to music, other recreational activities etal.

We all don’t know when we are going to leave this earth, the more reason to discover your purpose, find your mission, follow your bliss and leave a trail for others to follow. How we spend our time, who and what we spend it on determines the depth and breadth of our existence.

Dream like you would live forever, Live like you would DIE today – James Dean

In Lieu of this Paradigm shift have committed to spend my time with only things that are aligned with my vision and I do commit to not spend any second with anything that is not taking me towards my purpose.

In all you do learn to “Number your Days” Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.