So I've got good news and I've got bad news and I'm going to start with the bad news first. And the bad news is that you will very likely be forgotten. Now that's a provocative statement. So what do I mean by that?
One of the things that can be a goal for our second half of life, and certainly one of the things you start to think about once you hit middle age beyond is what will my legacy be? What do I want to be remembered for? What impact do I want to leave? What impression do I want to leave? How do I want to be remembered?
Things of that nature, start to come to the forefront of your thoughts and your desires. And they may find a way to seep into the plans that you have for your second half. And that being said, it's all likely, probably highly likely that everything that you're doing, everything that you're contemplating, whatever you actually might achieve will be very likely forgotten in very short order.
And that it's probably unlikely that you're going to leave any sort of impression. It would be more like footprints in the sand that will either be blown over or the water will wash over them in due time.
There's a scene from a movie called Gladiator Russell Crowe. And somewhere in the beginning, I think he's pumping up his men. And they're about to go fight whomever. They're about to fight. And he says a line that says something like "What we do in this life echoes in eternity." And he says it with a sort of cadence and a sort of accent to it sounded good at the time. I've seen memes about it, but the truth of the matter is probably not in all likelihood.
There's a very, very, very high probability that what we do in this life may, will not echo in eternity will be a thousand years from now, if not a heck of a lot sooner, won't even be a blip on the radar. And if your goal is that you do something in his life that will be remembered for all time…if that's something you're striving for, then that's a lot of pressure.
There's a lot of pressure that comes with that. There's a lot of a lot of burden to carry is, you know, and to have the sense that what I do is going to leave an indelible impression and, and going to have this sort of effect that's going to reverberate throughout all time. That's a high bar to try to clear. So the bad news is that you'll probably be forgotten.
But the good news is that you can unshackle yourself from that burden. You can take the weight off of thinking and believing that the things that you do, what you're trying to achieve in the second half of life, or just life in general, that's going to carry this cosmic importance and rather, maybe just embrace the cosmic insignificance of it, all of your existence and to what degree it's going to have a particularly impact.
Now, certainly there are certain individuals whose exploits and whose names have carried on for thousands of years. Rightfully so. But I will present to you that they are are the vast, vast, vast, vast, vast minority. So unshackle yourself from that pressure. Just totally take it off of your back entirely.
This means that you can approach life with a different perspective. You can approach the things that you want to achieve in the second half of life with a different air, even as you're pursuing the big goals that God may have for you.
You can pursue those things with a bit more levity with a bit more lightness, with a bit more joy, because you at the same time, recognize that there may not be a whole lot riding on it, not for generations and generations of eons and eons to come. It'll give you a chance to narrow your focus to those in your immediate sphere. It'll give you a chance to narrow your focus to the task you are immediately about to handle and do the best with what you have right in front of you. As opposed to thinking this one thing is going to be the butterfly wings that create a tsunami on the other side of the world.
So bad news, you're probably going to be forgotten. Good news. That's okay. That means whatever you're about to do- good are bad- is probably not going to register anywhere. You'll know about it. Maybe a few other people, then that's probably going to be about it.
Your success is in the same vein. You'll know about it. A few other people will know about it and maybe that'd be about it. And that's okay.
That means you can approach the things with a bit more lightness. You can enjoy the journey rather than being caught up in the destination so much. You can find some joy in the work and find some joy in the effort and the challenge and let the destination come as it will. If it turns out that you do something remarkable and do something that gets categorize and catalog and history in a particular way, that it reverberates absolutely fantastic. Congrats well done, but that shouldn't be the goal.
Don’t try to leave a legacy. Let it simply be something that naturally occurs organically, because that'll simply sap energy from the effort that's needed just to enjoy the journey. If you're striving to win, you're taking your, your taking your eye off the ball.
It's almost like “Yo, I need to hit a home run!” Instead why don't you just make contact with the ball first? Just keep your eye on the ball. Makes sure the bat hits the ball and then the ball will go wherever it's going to go. But if you're trying to hit a home run, it's likely you're going to take your eye off the ball. Swing too hard, swinging at a weird angle and miss the ball entirely. Cause you took your eye off the ball. It was a curve instead of a slider. Okay?
And sometimes when you're trying to leave a legacy, you take your eye off the ball. You take your eye off of what is immediately in front of you, which is where you can truly, and really only make an impact is in the here and now.
I want to end this with a poem called the indispensable man. It's attributed to Saxon White Kissinger, but it might've also been anonymous, but it sort of speaks to this idea of cosmic insignificance and how that can be a freeing.
God bless and take care.
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