All we have is time.
The average life expectancy Globally is approximately 70 years. In the United States, the projections are better, with 74.8 years for males and 80.2 years for females. So, at an average of 77.5 years, we can expect to spend just 930 months, 4,030 weeks, 28,210 days, or 677,040 hours on this earth.
There is an app that tracks where one is on the scale. It was eye-opening when we plugged in our numbers only to realize we had already chewed up so much of our granted inventory. Initially disheartened by our slimmed-down balance, we quickly came to appreciate the time left before us.
It is funny how looking toward our demise makes us prioritize. Faced with a constantly moving clock (there are no “time outs”), we thought not about our cash or possessions but of time and relationships.
The program of Alcoholics Anonymous taught us to focus on the 28 thousand-plus days, specifically, the ones that we have in front of us. This new life approach has served us well as we had wasted so much time and energy absorbed with the past, which was unchangeable, and a future we had little control over.
It is in the twenty-four-hour segments that we find the magic. It is in the minutes that we can find peace and joy if we value them for what they are. There is power in the manageability of what is right in front of us and an opportunity to positively affect our future selves through our daily efforts.
We move with time, and as our projected numbers decrease, we find that the things that were so important to us now hold little worth. What people think about us, what we have accumulated—and lost—now has no significance.
Thanks to the Alcoholics Anonymous program, we have gained an attitude of gratitude and an optimistic outlook and have proof in our own lives that concentrating on the chunk of time immediately in front of us is the best investment we can make. We spend little time rehashing the negative historical events, as we find this a waste of the precious minutes we have left.
As for tomorrow, we believe that if we work a good program today, it will take care of itself.
Decisions made in the seconds we have today transform the shape of tomorrow. Actions completed while doing the next right thing in the present will fulfill what should be.
We used to fret about death, concerned that we were wasting away the preciousness of life. Our whole outlook and attitude have changed: Today, we live today, and as those twenty-four hours pass, we find we are stacking love on love, and the result is a depth of approval of our present self.
We won’t exhaust ourselves in the dismay of what we have left but embrace the time as a chance to re-write our story. We have adopted countless others, laying our support to as many as we can, as this service has become our purpose.
Years have passed, and there are years to come (hopefully), and months are in the books with portions yet to be played out. Weeks speed by like there is no tomorrow—the clock ticks. In front of us lies the moments that matter and each is a gift.
May we live today to its fullest and stay in the twenty-four.
Thoughts and ideas for this blog post were taken and built upon from sober.coffee podcast #53 titled “HELP - How Asking for HELP is the Strongest Thing You Can Do !!”… The session dropped 4/6/2022. Click here to hear the podcast.
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Alcoholics Anonymous and AA are registered trademarks of Alcoholics World Service. Inc. References to AA, the 12 steps, and 12 traditions does not mean that AA has reviewed or approved the contents of this publication nor that AA agrees with the views expressed herein. This publication is intended to support personal growth and should not be considered a substitute for healthcare professionals' advice. The author’s advice and viewpoints are their own.
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