Do you think life is too short?
 

How long should life be in order to consider it long enough? And, if it is too short, shouldn't we try to lengthen it? Why practice the behaviors that will shorten it if it's already too short? And how short is short?

Do teenagers think life is too short? At what age do people start thinking that life is too short? And if you live to 100 can you still complain that life is too short? Is there an upper age limit at which one should stop complaining?

How can someone know that life is too short if it hasn't ended yet?

Share your perspective.

To someone suffering from an incurable disease, life is too short. For a parent who has endured the horrific pain of losing a child, life is too short.

Whether life seems too short or terribly long is a matter of perspective. Human nature opts for survival....at least most of the time, however we all view "risks" differently.

But one thing I notice, it goes fast.

So how about your perspective?

Actually, I don't often think about time passing....it just does, no matter what. Every once and a while, I look around, notice that my son is now in his 40's, my grand babies are far from being babies and I don't recognize my age. I remember my mother once telling me that even though she was in her 80's, in her mind, she was much younger. Dad was the same way....maybe it's a gene thing for me....;). We can worry about the past, the present and the future....the past is done, nothing will change it, we just have to learn from it. We must live in the present...it's where we are each day. The future will arrive, whether we worry about it or not. It will arrive, good or bad...hopefully what we've done in the past, what we are doing in the present, will help make our future a good one. We make our future, though what is considered good, varies from one individual to another. Guess I don't really think about life being too long or too short, it's more like, it just is.

You realize life:pepper2: is short when all your family members has died. The oldest one living to age 62 and siblings going at 58. That will wake you up.
What I did was retired 7 years early, changed my life style, and lost about 70 pounds. Now at 63 I do one day at a time see where it goes.:pepper2:

I'm with you Pooh. I appreciate the past, good, bad and ugly, and I look forward to the future by doing all that I can to enjoy the gift or the present and to make the most of it. I was once asked if I believed in reincarnation and I said that I didn't know, but I intended to live as fully as possible and I hoped that if there was reincarnation I hoped it wasn't chronological as I wasn't interested in have to do the Middle Ages.

Whether it is long or short, in my belief system it is all relative in the much larger scheme of things, like a blip on the screen, so I don't spend much time thinking about it.

LW888

Good for you! May you set new family records for longevity.

Most of my relatives have lived to the mid 80's (with one to 102) but then my younger 1st cousin dropped dead from a heart attack last year at age 61. Then there is one set of grandparents who died at ages 26 and 43 of natural causes, so one wonders. Just spend the remaining time living as good as possible. Isn't that what TV is all about?

Life is too short to be too little.

I agree it feels shorter when your immediate family has passed on, (only one brother left and he had a heart attack two years ago).

As long as I have quality of life, I don't care what my age is. People who don't have their health might feel life is too long. Aunt 96 has health issues and feels life it too long for her.She has no quality of life.

I subscribe to the adage, "use it or lose it".

if my mind and health fail then life is too long

I have had a good life. It has been a long life, 70+ years. I have done most of what I wanted to do. There are some things that I would like to do in this lifetime that are unrealistic for me to believe that I will be able to do. Had I started some of my ventures earlier perhaps I would have gotten more out of them. Generally I'm very happy with this life and if it ends tomorrow I will be sad to go but I will not be disappointed. I am ready.

However my complacency over the end-of-life is not without reason. I know that life is eternal. I believe that I knew how the system works. You may or may not agree with me but I know that life is eternal. Perhaps will not be exactly the same as it has been on this plane. It will be a new experience.

So, is life too short, too long? I think it's too short but not so short that I would bitch about it.

Much depends upon your health. I so far have been lucky.

Just the ramblings of an old man.

EXCELLENT POST AND OBSERVATIONS.....ditto for your first post.

My husband and I often say "where did the past twenty years" or "where did the past thirty years" go.

When we were children, summer vacation seemed to go on forever.
A single day lasted forever........in our minds anyway.....playing outside with our friends.

Now that we are married "pushing" 50 years and like you Pooh, our son is 41 and our daughter is 44...........the grandchildren growing up and more new ones on the way..........it seems that LIFE HAS FLOWN BY.

I wouldn't exactly say we are worried about how "short" it is.......
But we do comment to each other very often on how FAST IT HAS GONE BY. All our parents and elders are now deceased and we tease each other that we are now "them".

My mom always said that "Life seems to pass by more quickly the older I get". I now know exactly what she meant. The months fly by and it's the holiday season again.

She also would say things like, "I worried about things that never happened".

I think we should all do the same........in other words, stop worrying about how long you will live and just enjoy life with your partner, your children and your grandchildren......family, friends and neighbors..........and strangers alike.

Our younger friends always have told us that we are "young at heart" and to us that is more important than worrying about how long or short our own personal life will be.

I do agree that mentally we both feel YOUNGER than our chronological age.

My brother passed away when he was 58. His life was too short. Anyone passing away between 60 to 70 might be considered short by current standard. For those with medical condition such as myself, any life after 70 should be considered a bonus. I retired at 60 to enjoy life besides work and I am glad I was able to do this as it was another enjoyable different life style. I am on a 5 year plan and next year, I'll be 75. If or when I pass that threshold, I'll plan my life from 75 to 80. Having to buy a cemetery plot is one. To move permanently to TV is another. My only desire to live longer is to see my grandkids grow. I am satisfied with life I led both the ups and the downs. I would consider 85 to 90 too long though my father was quite active until his passing just short of 90. I am hoping I'll have a smile on my face whenever the time comes. As I said, after 70 was a bonus years for me.

It seems that yesterday I was 25! Time seems to be going by faster every year.

I don't fear the end of this life experience as I once did. I truly believe that when our "human suits" turn to dust, our spirit lives on. Our loved ones are in another dimension, and we will be reunited with them. Because of my beliefs, while I will regret leaving this planet, I look forward to new experiences. I don't think this thread is intended to be a discussion of spiritual beliefs, so I'll leave it at that.

Matter of Perspective
 

My uncle who is 99 and still has one sister at 101. Some of his family members passed at 104, 102 and 99.

I asked him what happened to his other six siblings, He replied, "they all died young, they were in their seventies". His perspective was 70's was too young.

My mom who passed in her nineties considered a seventy something person to be "just a kid". :smiley:

My perspective is "it's all about quality of life".

I've seen several family members who don't have quality of life and they wake up in the morning with nothing to look forward to as they are too sick.

IMHO

The ramblings of a VERY WISE older man.

Anyone who believes in immortality is not afraid of what lies beyond this earthly plane.........and thus, not obsessed with the small things of daily existence.......

I do believe that the spirit lives on. Our bodies are just a shell.
The soul/spirit is indestructible.........

Here is a comforting thought for anyone who has lost a close person in their lives.......or is contemplating their own ultimate ending........

Henry van Dyke: “A Parable of Immortality”: Also known as "GONE FROM MY SIGHT" and "THE SHIP"

I am standing upon the seashore. A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch until at last she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sun and sky come down to mingle with each other. Then someone at my side says, "There she goes!"

Gone where? Gone from my sight - that is all. She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side and just as able to bear her load of living freight to the places of destination.

Her diminished size is in me, not in her. And just at the moment when someone at my side says, “There she goes!”, there are other eyes watching her coming and other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying...................

http://www.theribbon.com/poetry/gonefrommysight.asp

Above hyperlink has the poem in a nicely printed foremat for those who wish to print it out..........

THIS POEM IS USUALLY CALLED "THE SHIP".
I found it as my mom was dying of end stage Alzheimers and I was also, at the same time, digging deeply into my 10 generations back of genealogy and typing in all the long dead souls......family members I never knew, but that had at one time "a life"..........one can also learn something about the longevity of their forbears by doing genealogy research.........I found it comforting and at the time it "rang a bell".........."someone will be waiting on the other side".
At our age now, there will be hordes of them. So, don't sweat the small stuff, take time to smell the roses and enjoy everything life has to offer now. Don't worry about dying or whether life is too short.....just live it without rigidity.

That pretty well says it ALL.:bigbow:

Thank you for this beautiful parable.

For me I realized that life is too short when I truly found the one for me. When you feel like you want to spend every day with the same person then the thought "life is too short" started to creep in. There is not enough time to do all the things you want to do with the one you want to do them with. I planned a very big vacation this past year and told my wife we need to do this now while we can still enjoy all the activities we may not be able to do later on in life. Strike when the iron is hot I suppose.

If That's All There Is My Friend
 

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]Do you think life is too short? Relative to what? I have a sibling that really gets depressed just thinking about the issue of dying. He can't bring himself to the reality that this earthly existence will go on without him.

I on the other hand had long ago come to terms with my mortality. Death is never going to be fair. Death under any circumstance will always be sudden and unexpected even with those on their death beds expecting to die. It will always be said that the good die young. It will always be said that s/he died too young. Death will always be tragic. People will always say nice things about you when you die. Life and death are two sides of the same coin. And as long as there are people still alive that knew you then you will remain alive.

I had long ago when accepting my mortality stopped agonizing myself about the existence of the hereafter. I'll just hope for the best because up to now I have had a decent run and that is all that we can expect. And if that all there is then that's all there is my friend

:agree: Well put.

I think for those who live life fully, they could use a whole other round. Those that simply exist in it, it is a wonderful perk.

My best friend is a family doctor. He recently told me, the good Lord will give you the first 50 years, the second 50, you have to work for!

Thanks, good post! Seems like a healthy outlook.

Article in AARP, "When life is too long?

A woman the youngest of nine siblings said:

If you live long enough, you bury everyone you ever loved, which is too long.

"Figuring out how to not die is my bucket list". :smiley:

We went north this week to visit family and to see our granddaughter's first home on her very own. She recently graduated college and quickly found a job in her career choice. We were able to see her sweet small apartment and add a few things she was wishing for.

I thought on the long trip back here about how someday she might be the grandparent in the same situation and hoped she too had such a happy experience and wished that I could see her joy and peace in having just such a simple and good thing happen to somebody that she loved. BUT, we cannot go on forever, the way I look at it is to squeeze the juice out of each GOOD moment granted us and replay it back when we have time. Let the bad stuff go and try to make the lives of others a little better for your passing by.

One definition of success is to have made one life breathe easier.

Excellent post Gracie.

It seems some are taken way too soon and some linger on suffering way too long. We get many choices in life but the short or the long of life is not one of them. Make that phone call and make peace with that certain person and forgive them even though they may not forgive you. No matter how long your life it is too short for hatred or grudges. Eat some ice cream, smell the roses and take that trip you been thinking about and enjoy the ride because your station will come soon enough.

Wonderful post. I have been working on that very thing the last few months, and ya know what? I think I am the one getting the most out of it. It feels good to get rid of bad baggage.

If you ar a Christian, you understand that life is eternal, don't you?

Is that too long?

"It's not the years in your life that count.It's the life in those years."I try not to think about death,it's just sooooooooooooooo depressing.I've had a terrific life and i don't want it to ever end,but i don't want to live long enough to bury any of my three amazing children.My children are my legacy and the best moments of my life have included them.