Rushing, Time Management & Aging

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Discussion #31 - Rushing, Time Management & Aging

So much of life is about pacing. You will get far more accomplished, enjoy life much more & live much longer/healthier if you replace (most) rushing with effective time management. There is a good reason why you rarely see uber-successful people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. There will always be times & situations where rushing is unavoidable, but this should be the exception & not the norm. There are also many people who enjoy the practice of rushing. If this is the case for you, then rush on! Enjoyment of any kind results in the creation of endorphins, which in my humble opinion are the holy grail of a long & healthy life (most type "A" personalities would likely fall under this category). Many of these good folks rarely let their foot off the gas (in life), it wouldn't matter if they had $20 million in the bank.

Keep in mind that the average lifespan of a pioneer was only 40, and this was only 100 to 200 years ago (not long in the grand scheme of history). The most exciting and entertaining aspect of life is normally survival, but as we all know, survival is not purely financial. It has much more to do with the aging process. It's not enough to just succeed financially. It's about succeeding within a lifestyle which is also enjoyable, and not wrought with an extreme level of daily stress (not necessarily easy to do). But hey, who ever said that life was easy! The world in general is continually tightening the vice on this, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to pull this off.

Life is supposed to be a mixture of competition and compassion, it always has been and always will be. The combination of the neverending battle for survival and compassion for others, is largely what makes life so intensely exciting and satisfying. It's definitely true that money can't buy love, it can't (alone) buy happiness, and as well it can't buy your health back once it's gone. Although the world seems to be heading in a more stressful, sedentary, and technologically advanced direction, the game is still roughly the same as it always was.

You may have noticed the small "LifeExtension" button (top left). While this may seem like a shameless endorsement, I am actually a huge fan of what these good folks are up to. While the Life Extension Foundation does indeed raise SOME funds by selling extremely high quality (natural source) nutritional supplements, much of their funding comes from other sources. Since 1980, this non-profit organization has been doing AMAZING research in the field of anti-aging science. I personally have a very strong opinion about this area of research. Many mainstream scientists mock and marginalize anti-aging science, as they see it as simply chasing the elusive "fountain of youth", similar to Ponce De Leon. In reality, this field of research is extremely valuable, possibly even more so than mainstream research on finding cures for cancer, heart disease, stroke, etc.

What many people don't fully realize, is that while there is a serious genetic component to these diseases, they are mainly aging-related (dramatically influenced by lifestyle, nutrition, and environmental factors). These are some of the basic tools that the aging process uses to carry out it's primary mission; to eventually kill us off, and prevent over-population. While the amount of funding and research that is going into the fields of cancer, heart disease, alzheimer's, etc. research is dramatically higher, I personally believe that attacking problems at their root core is far more effective than attempting to cure them afterwards.

This is a common human theme, attempting to solve serious problems after they happen, as opposed to preventing them from happening in the first place. We see this occurring a lot with our environmental issues as well. Following the herd is what most people feel comfortable doing, but if the herd is walking off the edge of a cliff, it's probably best not to follow them.

As much as we love to live in denial of this fact, the aging process is nature's way of controlling the human population on Earth. As individuals however, we have a completely different agenda. Our main instinct (and desire) is for survival. Most of us are instinctively and emotionally at odds with mother nature on these agendas. I personally strongly believe that we as individuals have a massive amount of control over this aspect of our survival. I believe that very little is actually in the hands of genetics when it comes to human aging (and I don't mean laziness, drugs, surgery, etc.). We are very different from the other animals in our world, as we have been given the miracle of free will.

Many in the modern world suffer from "The Blight of Busyness" (in The East and in The West). While maintaining the perception (and in most cases the reality) of being almost constantly busy has become a bit of a religion for many, this can actually be an amazing lifestyle (assuming time management is in the mix and oppression is not). Most of us love to be busy and have lots to do, and feeling/being productive is a great way to avoid craving a multitude of different vices (and get stuff done)! It's the constant rushing that causes most of the health-related problems. Since ultimately it's up to us to survive in this mortal world, it's also up to us to find/maintain some sense of balance in this area of life.

Unfortunately, this is becoming much easier said than done, as corporations large and small globally are leveraging an increasingly competitive job market into increased productivity from most in the labour force. The primary goal of business is to increase profits, not to extend their employees' healthy lifespans. This job, if we care, is up to us. In the defense of employers, they are facing ever-increasing competition as well, and in many cases have little choice but to reduce expenses, effectively "squeezing" more productivity out of fewer workers. This can be a tricky subject, as of course there are many genuinely lazy people in the world, who would rather be doing just about anything than actually working.

If we're not careful, our home planet may become an extremely stressful place to live, and we really only have ourselves to blame. The proof is in the pudding; up until just recently, average human lifespans in developed countries were on the rise, now they are falling. What is happening in the world today is the trend of many becoming enslaved to their careers, and many others out of work completely and bored out of their minds. Achieving some form of healthy balance in life is becoming increasingly difficult for many. (This issue obviously applies mainly to the private sector, where profitability is the concern).

This reality also varies dramatically from country to country, and continent to continent. Generally, the more affluent the country, the more this becomes an issue, (with the only exceptions being a few really progressive countries in Europe). We feel sorry for people living in poorer countries, as they have very little, and they feel sorry for us, as they view us as having lots, but being generally fairly stressed out. To live in an affluent country, and not have a high stress lifestyle can be challenging, but not impossible.

Humanity struggles intensely with not compartmentalizing our lives, and seeing outside the "box" that is our human lifespan. There are a few organizations in the world who actually do think in terms of centuries (for example the Catholic church), which coincidentally is also the richest organization (including all corporations) in the world. (Just for the record, I am personally not Catholic). We think of our generations as being highly advanced, but if you look back even 100 or so years, medical doctors were generally sawing off body parts on their patients with serious infections, and very few people had indoor plumbing or electricity. Now fast-forward 100 years into the future, and imagine how advanced our current generations are going to look then. Our educational institutions are very professional (as they were 100 years ago), but life is an ever-evolving learning curve for all of humanity. Our current stages of knowledge are actually primitive compared to what they will be, not too far down the road.

I personally believe that we are in for some fairly big, monumental (positive) changes in the next 100 years (and the next, etc.). Even the last 50 years have seen unbelievable changes in our lifestyles, with the progression of the industrial revolution, and now entering the information age. Most of us can't even imagine what life will look like 50 years from now, but guaranteed it will look a lot different than what we are experiencing now. Wouldn't it be cool to be around (and healthy), to see/experience some of these changes.

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