Carlos Velásquez · Medium · 3 min read
Photo by Hebert Santos from Pexels
Life expectancy in the developed world is approximately 80 years. Let us consider how some of us spend the hours of our life — and reflect on how nature can teach us to live with greater presence.
“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got”
Art Buchwald
700,800
The # of hours lived.
- calculation: 24 hrs x 365 days x 80 years (ignore leap years)
213,160
The # of hours spent sleeping.
- calculation: 7 hrs, 18 mins x 365 days x 80 yrs
80,000
The # of hours spent working. [age: 25–65]
- calculation: 8 hrs x 5 days x 50 wks x 40 yrs (subtract vacation hours)
35,040
The # of hours spent with limited/no recollection of time. [age: 0–4]
- calculation: 24 hrs x 365 days x 4 yrs
24,480
The # of hours spent at school and studying. [age: 6–21,+/- 3]
- estimate: 19,440 (K-12) + 5,040 hrs (college)
*15,000
The # of hours spent commuting to/from work (*may change) [age: 25- 65]
- calculation: [45 mins x 2 (to/from) = 1.5 hrs] x 5 days x 50 wks x 40 yrs
5,460
The # of hours spent with our parents, post-college. [age: 18–60]
- calculation: ~2.5 hrs x 52 wks x 42 yrs (visiting them once a week)
1,801
The # of hours spent brushing our teeth, a.m./p.m.[age: 6–80]
- calculation: [2 min a.m./2 min p.m. = 4 min] x 365 x 74
1
The last hour spent living (hopefully surrounded by loved ones).
Learning From Nature
Modern life can be busy, even hectic. The number of hours in a day can feel insufficient when dealing with life’s complexities. Our lives, however, are no more complex than nature’s vast ecosystem — yet, nature is never rushed.
Modern life facilitates living out of harmony with nature in ways early humans would not have lived. Chasing wealth and status symbols often provide sufficient adrenaline and justification for powering through suboptimal states that can have negative long-term consequences on our health and relationships.
Humans evolved in harmony with nature. Experiencing negative emotions is our body’s way of signaling that we have broken this harmony. Chronic anxiety, depression, and anger are obvious signals that something is wrong. More subtle cues are associated with job dissatisfaction, deteriorating relationships, disliking our bodies, etc. Fortunately, nature has the power to help us troubleshoot our biological hardware.
For those folks who live in cities, the act of taking frequent walks through local parks, or even just sitting in our backyards, can help us reset our wetware. Consider the following:
“We don’t experience natural environments enough to realize how restored they can make us feel, nor are we aware that studies also show they make us healthier, more creative, more empathetic and more apt to engage with the world and with each other. Nature, it turns out, is good for civilization.”
Florence Williams, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative.
Nature helps us live well! Observing and listening to nature can also teach us to put life into perspective.
Observe
Observe trees and plants undergo seasonal changes as their leaves grow and fruits ripen, eventually shedding and decaying. Nature allows us to witness birth and death — the life cycle of all living things.
Listen
Listen to the wind clatter through tree leaves; birds chirp and squawk as they fly, court mates, and rest; the rustling noise animals make coming out of their dens in search of food. Nature helps us witness its unwavering state of sheer presence.
Learn
For millions of years, nature has accomplished everything required for its complex ecosystem to thrive. The wonders of nature prove that life is neither insufficient nor over-abundant. It is just right.
Spending time in nature can help us live what remains of our ~700,800 hours of life a little less rushed. And ideally, in a state of greater presence.
Author also wrote: 13 Rules | N. Taleb’s Minority Rule | Your Inner Voice | Bitcoin’s Volatility | Blockchain Stocks |50 Investment Lessons | Flywheel Effect | Bitcoin: Mental Framework | Crypto Moonshots | 4 Crypto Stocks | Bitcoin: Insurance | Brief History: Money | Spontaneous Order | Ackman’s $2.6B Moonshot | Fragility Inducing Events | Antifragile: Definition | 1% Bitcoin: 99% Cash | COVID-19: Market
