Monday, November 10, 2036.
That’s the day I’m expected to die according to DeathClock, billed as “the Internet’s friendly reminder that life is slipping away.”
While I don’t believe my death will occur on that particular day and do hope I’ll live quite a bit longer than age 79, I find myself thinking both about the quantity and quality of the years I have left, no doubt prompted by the fact that I will turn 65 in a month.
On the short end of my projected lifeline, I think of my parents, both of whom died at age 70, my dad after a year-long battle with lung cancer (no surprise as he smoked for 50+ years) and my mom in an instant from a heart attack linked to Vioxx, the drug she was taking to help manage her arthritis (a drug reported to triple the risk of heart attack). If I die at their age, I have five years left.
On the other hand, if I live as long as my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather, I have 25 years left.
Either way, I hope to stay mentally, physically and emotionally healthy so that I can spend my time doing things I enjoy and making a difference in the lives of others.
The desire to do so has got me thinking back to one of the best books I read in 2020: Die with Zero: Getting All You Can From Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins. Thanks in large part to it and to a financial coach I recently hired to help me shift from saving for the future to enjoying my money—and my life!—now, I am finally beginning to do so.
So whether my death comes next year, in 2036 as predicted by DeathClock or, as I hope, years after becoming a healthy centenarian, I am determined to hear the ticking clock as a call to action rather than a countdown to my final days. I hope you are as well as I’d love to have you and all Word Sisters along for the journey.
WordSisters 
Having just turned 70, the time is of utmost importance to me. I carefully choose what I want to do, and let the other stuff fall by the wayside. I’m no longer doing what people expect of me, but rather what I expect of me. And that is to enjoy every day, to find the joy, to leave the anxiety on the side of the road. I wish you well in your next decade to do likewise.
Appreciate your response. I turn 65 later this month and am determined to live more fully and less anxiously moving forward.
I think the older we get, the more we realize that our days are, indeed, numbered. Which is all the more reason to live each day as fully as we can!
A useful perspective—thanks!
I’ve never heard of the DeathClock, but I imagine it has an important message to live life to the fullest!
That’s the way I interpreted it…live now…and fully…wish I’d started years ago.