Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Most of you probably know where that quote is from, but in case you don’t, it’s from the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, a classic from 1986. (Be sure to watch it if you have never seen it) While the movie is a fun flick about a couple of teens having an adventure on a skip day from school, this quote has a much deeper meaning than it does at first glance. Last week I watched a short documentary called Para Fuera about an exceptional man turning 100 years old, Dr. Richard Bing, who had this to say about time and life:
“The time goes like a river, with great speed. And all of a sudden, you find yourself 100 years old. It seems to me, only a few years ago, I was middle-aged. And only a few years ago, was a child. So, transformations occur much quicker than you think.”
Sometimes, we are all so busy doing “stuff” that we miss out on the act of actually living. Busy making plans for “someday”. Busy occupying our minds so we don’t have time to think… to learn… to enjoy. To sit quietly. My grandmother is over 98 years old, and even she says she doesn’t know where time went and that it went by in the blink of an eye. So while we think we have plenty of time later, the truth is that our lives go by so quick and the time to start doing the things you want to do is now – not sometime down the road. After all, life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
I highly recommend you watch this documentary, it’s only about 9 minutes long.
A really timely post for me, as I’ve been giving this some thought lately. I realize that I’m not living my life to its fullest potential and that I need to do all the active things I want to do now (like exercising more, hiking, etc) while I’m still in my 30s. I need to do all these things before my physical body begins to fail me. It is too easy to slump onto the couch at the end of a long day or week.
That Ferris Bueller quote is one of my favorites! Thanks for the unique perspective on “slowing down.” It’s unfortunate that we don’t realize how quickly time passes until we get older. Nature has played a not-very-nice trick on us; time seems to pass too slowly when we’re young and too quickly when we’re older.
I like how he said, sometimes if you persist and get over the hump good things happen (paraphrase). I will be 24 next week and I am realizing just how quickly time flies by. I was speaking with my Dad about this and he said that time only seems to speed up as we get older.
I am very afraid of looking back on life realizing that I didn’t live to my potential and/or didn’t live the way I wanted to out of fear.
I am glad to realize this now, and make the appropriate changes. I think getting organized and making room for the things that matter gives a better chance to utilize the time we have.
Great quote from the movie Grumpy Old Men: “The first ninety years, they go by pretty fast. And then one day you wake up and realize that, you’re not 81 anymore, and pretty soon, you’ll be gone.”
Glad your grandmother is still going strong, Dave!
Thanks Jennifer, she’s still going strong! 🙂
I have been following your blog for quite some time now. It is by far my favorite out there. I just wanted to finally comment and say that your blog has really inspired me to make some changes in my own life, how I live, etc. I’ve always admired the persistence and catharsis that you seem to get through your journey. I’m sure you’re a busy man, but I just wanted to say thank you and give you the link to my own chronicling.
http://toinherit.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/synchronize-watches/
Today, I went to the beachfront with my children.
I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and
said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She put the shell to her
ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it
pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
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