One Thing the Pandemic Made Me Truly Understand is that Life is (Really) Short

The longer I’ve lived in this pandemic, the more I realize that life is short. I feel like I’ve always known it, but now, I feel like I understand it more than I ever have in my life.

I feel like I’ve lost a lot of time. During this pandemic, I’ve lost loved ones, and lost time with others. It’s made me understand more and more about how short life really is. I know that we’re still in a pandemic, and the longer it is, the more time of our lifetime it eats up.

Even before the pandemic, I wish I had some more time to spend with my family and friends who recently passed away. Now that they’re no longer with us, I wish I had more time with the people in my life. I feel like the pandemic robbed at least a year of precious time with my loved ones. To me, life feels shorter than ever before.

With that in mind, I want to make sure that I don’t squander the time I have right now. I have kids who aren’t old enough to be vaccinated yet, so I still don’t see a lot of people. When I do, I try to be more present with them, whether at home with my family or at work with my colleagues. With my limited contact with people, I recognize that I became emotionally withdrawn from a lot of people in my life. It happened and I am going to try not to be too hard on myself for that. Life is too short to live that way; I just need to be more intentional about being more mentally and emotionally present with the people I spend my time with. Now is the time to be more present with the people in my life.

Life is also too short to not do what you’re passionate about. If I were to ask myself, “What brings me joy, happiness, and satisfaction?” Whatever that may be, that’s what I need to do. I may need to spend time with family, whether in-person (with caution; we still are in a pandemic) or online. I may need to be in a career that I’m passionate about. I may need to spend my free time on things I care about, like learning a new skill. Even if it’s not something I can do right now, working towards it still counts.

Life is too short to not be proud of myself. I know that we’re always changing and growing as people, but overall, I need to be able to look in the mirror and be proud of myself. I need to be the person I am proud to be. Life is too short for me to be living in a way that I’m not happy with. I know it’s unavoidable and I’m going to have days that I’m down and not feeling like myself; the point is to minimize that as much as possible. I try my best to be a responsible, disciplined, and compassionate person. That is how I want others to see me, but most importantly, how I want to truly see myself.

Who knows how long this pandemic will last, and really, who knows how much time I have on this Earth. I just know that with the time I have, I’ll try to be more present with the people in my life, spend more time doing things I care about, and be the best version of myself I can push myself to be.

Roderick Conwi writes about personal and professional development at Nourishment Notes. He is also the author of The Procrastinator's Quick Guide To Getting It Done. To get powerful insights to enhance your day, join his FREE newsletter.