It's time

Today I’m writing post of Day 3 in the Advent of Writing challenge. Honestly, I don’t have much to say today, so I’ll keep it short and concise.

One of the suggested topics was “Write about one key photo, code snippet, graph, etc., and make a story about it.” Instead, I’ll go with a quote from one of Paul Graham’s blogs, “Life is Short”:

Having kids showed me how to convert a continuous quantity, time, into discrete quantities. You only get 52 weekends with your 2 year old. If Christmas-as-magic lasts from say ages 3 to 10, you only get to watch your child experience it 8 times. And while it’s impossible to say what is a lot or a little of a continuous quantity like time, 8 is not a lot of something. If you had a handful of 8 peanuts, or a shelf of 8 books to choose from, the quantity would definitely seem limited, no matter what your lifespan was.

To me, the core message of his essay is this: finiteness sharpens value.

But not all finiteness is obvious or predictable. Some things, like how many Christmases are left or how many holidays you’ll have with a loved one, can more or less be estimated. Others end abruptly and without warning. You rarely realize, for example, when it’s the last time your child falls asleep on your chest, or the last time a friend lives in the same city. These “last times” only become clear in retrospect.

We shouldn’t also be discouraged by the fact that valuable moments are finite. There might only be 8 Christmas-as-magic times, but you have all the power in the world to produce more of similar events. Similarly, if everything is precious, nothing is. Don’t be afraid of scarcity.

We also shouldn’t be discouraged by the fact that valuable moments are finite. There might only be eight “Christmas-as-magic” years, but you have the power to create new rituals just as meaningful. Scarcity heightens appreciation, but it doesn’t have to create anxiety. If everything is precious, nothing is. Don’t be afraid of scarcity.

Now my question to you is: what do you want to do today?