Almost seven years ago, I read a post on a blog called Withinsight. The post, entitled “Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana,” recounts research findings that suggest we experience 75% of our lives in our first 25 years.
I left the following comment on that post: “At 54, I feel my life speeding by like an out-of-control boat, ripping across the water toward the massive rocks on the other side. I saw the rocks when I was 25 but now I feel them splintering the boat beneath me. So that’s what the last 25% feels like….?”
Seven years later, I think I was being a bit melodramatic. I rather like the life I’ve been living. There have been periods of angst, of course, and challenges that caused me to wither a bit from time to time, but I would give my life an 87 out of 100 so far, maybe even higher. I’m exceptionally fortunate. But I still have unmet desires, so I’ll keep struggling to meet them…though even absent that struggle, time and experience have been good to me.