See you in 2277

So, I was just IMing with the Doc a minute ago and we were talking about my flu last week and how I have the opposite of AIDS and an immune system of steel (usually). And I claimed that I'm going to live for a very long time provided I don't off myself. Then it clicked: the key to my peace of mind is not living each day like it's my last. That's too much pressure. It makes me feel like I'm wasting my life every day because truly, if I was going to live each day like it was my last, I WOULDN'T BE WORKING A FUCKING DESK JOB. Or working AT ALL. That's the issue I have with those "chicken soup for the soul" nuggets of advice like "live each day like it's your last." What does that even mean? Because if I was doing that - I'd rob a bank (without killing anyone) and hop on the next flight to Australia - wait, scratch that, the flight would take my entire day - the next flight to the Caribbean, get my ass on a beach with a double Jameson on the rocks (I need a new whiskey, I know), and just sit in the sun with my toes in the water. But then, there's the other side of the coin, which is telling me to save for retirement and plan for the future and invest and the like. Which is it, all-knowing Illuminati? Do I live for today or live for the future?

I think when they say to "live for today," it's all about just being a good person. I'm going to have to sit at my desk job today because in the probable world I'm still going to wake up tomorrow and have to go to work, so I best ensure I have still have a job by not running off to Aruba after robbing a bank. But I will also be around my co-workers tomorrow, so I'm going to smile and say "please" and "thank you" and make jokes and listen to them over-explain things and write my little blogs because I like doing that stuff. It's easy and it allows me to think about conquering the world with the important stuff I want to say on stage. I will live like today is my last day - as in I will be the best person I can be so that in a few days at my funeral, I will have so many loving friends, family, and admirers there talk about what an awesome person I was and how I have inspired them to be better people too. That's it: live today like your funeral will be in 3 days. My friend's cousin's life got cut short yesterday in a fatal car crash. That guy probably woke up that morning thinking, or not thinking, about how it was probably going to be a normal day. One of death's mysteries that I've always wondered... do people know that they're going to die right before it happens? And I'm not even talking about being-tied-to-a-conveyor-belt-that-is-leading-you-to-a-saw-that-will-cut-you-in-half-lengthwise knowledge of imminent death, but is there a moment in the hour preceding an unpredictable death when the victim is like, "This is it?"

Anyway, so out of this IM conversation, I came up with the secret: live like you're gonna live to be 300 years old. There's this sage comfort in knowing you're going to be around for a long time. I don't like being 30 and thinking I'm almost halfway through my given lifespan. That's crazy. Life as we know it is indeed too short. But thinking I'm going to be around for years and years puts no rush on things. I can feel free to relax and enjoy my friends and my life. There's not a constant buzzing of "go go go!!!" But I guess if I realized how easy it was to do things, that buzzing would go away anyway.