You’ve Got a Number.
We’ve all got a number. That number is magical. It is illusive. And we all want to attain it as much as we want to prolong it. This number is a bit of a conundrum. If most of us could know it, we would choose not to. Most of us, if asked how long we want to live, will reply with a really big number. When I ask tribe-mates, “How long do you want to live?” – I hear a lot of “90’s” and a ton of “one hundred and three’s.” That is a powerful affirmation. But is it more powerful than high cholesterol and the ramifications of diabetes, fried chicken, trans fats, and high-fructose corn syrup I wonder? Sometimes I think that in stating a mighty big number, people think they are competing – winning some secret prize. The conundrum? Well, people say they want to be this super old person, but they don’t want to get old. They don’t want to look old. They don’t want to act old. They tend not to embrace the wrinkles and grays. They tend not to readily state their age. There is a saying, “you never ask a woman her age.” Why is that? What’s the big secret?
I know the feelings behind these pronouncements well because I thought at one point I might enjoy living to be a hundred. But I have so many stipulations in accomplishing 100 years old, stating an arbitrary number over and over caused me to think about it. I want to be able bodied. I want to be continent. I want my vision. The list goes on. It comes down to this. I want to live a long life, but I don’t want to give up that much in order to achieve it.
The day that I am going to die is on the calendar. And every year, I live the 24 hours of that particular day, not knowing I am living and breathing on the very date upon which I will die. I wonder, when that day rolls around each year, am I sad? Am I angry? Does my soul feel it? Is that when I most feel under the weather? Does that day have a history of feeling a certain way to me? I don’t know and I will never know. It is knowing that day exists, knowing that I cannot and do not want to live forever, knowing that I prefer quality of life over quantity of life, that led me to the Lynchpinning Process. See, if I can’t or won’t live to be a hundred, how can I better produce enough fruit to leave the impression that I did? I decided. I could live my life as one apple tree that bears fruit for a hundred years or I could live like an orchard.
So what’s your number? For the sake of the Lynchpinning Process, your number is 78 (the US life expectancy) minus your current age. In my process, we call this your Life Spend. Because, if the numbers shake out the way they have in the past, this is how long you can expect to live. This is how much life you have to work with. This is the amount of time you have to do all the things you say you want to do.
I know there are caveats to the 78. Like, you may be an ultra-healthy eater with the most diverse biome on the planet who exercises two hours per day and who has the blood pressure of a 12-year-old. Both of your grandparents lived to be over 100 years old, and you’ve never smoked a day in your life. You pray two hours each day before dawn, and you meditate an hour each night before bed. Your chi is clear. Your energy flows. Okay, okay. The numbers vary. But in order to create a baseline, in the Lynchpinning process, we use 78 years old as our life expectancy.
There is another number we work with. This one, I call your Dream number. This is that number you aspire to live to. If you brush and floss twice a day, are faithful with your antioxidants, you faithfully work on your balance, endurance, flexibility, cognition, state of mind, breathing, wear sunscreen but stay out in the sun long enough to get enough vitamin D – this is that number.
So, let’s calculate your Life Spend Number and your Dream Number so you can leave this blog knowing how much life cash you have in your pocket. And I promise that facing these two numbers without blinking –without turning away, will help you become more aware of what you are doing with your time.
Life Spend = 78 minus your current age.
Dream Number = Your desired lifespan minus your current age.
How do you feel about your numbers?
How do these numbers make you feel about how you have been “spending” your time?
Love and Peace,
Tracey Alexandria Lynch
