December 29, 2009. Two day until this year is over. Three hundred sixty-three days has passed. What have you done for 365 Days?
31,536,000 Seconds Equals 10,512,000 Lifetimes.
One year is eight thousand, seven hundred and sixty hours. That is 525,600 minutes. 31,536,000 ticks on a clock. Assume you work 8 hours of a day six days a week for those over-achievers. This is almost 2,500 hours (2,496 hours for the anal-retentive) Now, let’s factor sleep. Ideally, eight hours of sleep per day. This is more than 2,900 hundred hoursin bed. More if you are taking Viagra or a porn star. That leaves almost 3,400 waking hours. Now I ask, What have you done for in those waking hours?
No, this is not a blog about Verizon. It’s not about your minutes used. Not, directly. My question, are you living the life you want to live? Are you going in the right directions? Did you turn left when you should have turned right? Beauty about this is that you can change. You have choices. Maybe you need a timeout. Maybe you need a course correction. One of my favorite movie lines comes from Any Given Sunday. Al Pacino say “Three seconds—That’s a lifetime.”
Red Book Needs Tape
This year I documented a year of my life. Kept all my thoughts feelings and experience in my journal. Not an easy task. My red hard-covered diary is beat up. Mangled. Sections of days are falling out. White, athletic tape holds the binding. Rubber bands keep the contents from flying away. It’s on life support. Got it wet when writing in the tub. It has blood stains when I did my blood sugar readings. Wrist bands. Racing numbers when I did my first 10k (it was supposed to be 5k. No one told me to turn back) Movie stubs. Newspaper articles. Football game tickets. Obituaries. Clipper tickets. Monthly astrological forecasts. Wedding and party invites are stapled inside. I have personal health stats stapled inside. In gold lettering, italicized it says “Days to Remember: A Journal of a Lifetime”
Kept a daily log of my BP, heart rate, blood sugar readings. Measurements of my waist, chest, hips, calves, thighs, etcetera. I have body temperature, body fat%, and BMI scores. Gained 25 lbs in May. Lost 25 lbs by December. Some things changed, others not so much. I am proud of my accomplished. Unsatisfied with others. Good or Bad—Changes I made are the ones that I made. I ask again, What Have You Done?
To-Do or Not to Do: Tasks Accomplished, Tangents Askew
Kept a “to-do” list, too. Initially it was a list of 10 most important things I wanted to get done. Eventually, it then reached up to 30 to do things. Tried to fit the entire half side of page so as not to have write so much. At times, I did not have much to say. Went a good six weeks of choosing not to write. I stopped that bad habit.
Stealing A Peak: Not So Proud, but Grateful
I kept journals and diaries in the past, but it never stuck. Not until, this year. I mean I really started journalizing a few years back. I stole a peak Diane’s journal. It lay by her bed. One time when she was in the shower, I looked in it. I was curious to see what she thought of me. I mean I was staying at her place for almost a week. I just wanted to know what her thoughts were. I lived in Boston for a time. I digress. What I remember is that her father gave her the journal. Inside he wrote, “A life worth living is one worth writing about.” Those lines stuck with me.
2009 journal I beat you up this year.It’s almost over, good friend. I will put you away. Thank you for the memories.
Since my CHF diagnosis, I made a real effort to document my life for an entire year.
Do you have a journal? Are you living a life worth writing about? How about a “To-Do” list? What does yours say? Much of my “To-do” list has mean cleaning something: Cleaning my closet, Cleaning my bed, Cleaning my car, Washing my laundry. I wonder why I put so much emphasis on cleaning. Maybe I am closet OCD. Neah!!! I figure I have other things to do, than washing and cleaning. I never get my washing done. I keeping putting it on because its never done.
Cluttered Desk Means Cluttered Mind
My old mentor Pauw would say “Cleanliness of your desk is like your mind. If it is cluttered, if it is disorganized, it is like your thinking.” Clean, everything in its place. Clarity of thought. No clarity. Lots of mess. Lots of unnecssariness. Lots of chaos. At the time, I was lost. Felt comfortable in the chaos of the situation. Always felt calm in the storm. I keep my desk clean now.
My journal is my thoughts, my dreams, my feelings. My “To do” list has become my map of my life. It signifies what is important. It signifies my accomplishments. It signifies my intentions. My health stats are my body’s message to me. It’s my documentation of me. Now I ask, Are You Happy With What Have You Done?
My 2010 Resolution: Beat Up My 2010 Journal
