Behind the Scenes: On Time
Last weekend I spoke at the Distrikt DVRSN about time. This is a quick write up of the ideas I talked about.
“The average industrialized man with 25,000 days on this planet may easily secure only about 4,500 waking hour days of beneficial life. That’s a quarter of your life if you’re lucky. A quarter of your life during which the average person can puruse activities which are meaningful to them.””
My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. What became clear from this experience was how precious time is and the finite-ness of our time on this planet.
This past Winter I had an increasingly growing discontent with how my life was going (only as far as a privileged person can be dissatisfied). I was feeling burnt out at work and my day to day felt like a grind. During this time, I was also reconnected with Francis. I took Francis out for a coffee and I learned about his story and how he lost a year and half of his life dealing with bipolar disorder.
Francis asked me to make a kickstarter video to help raise funds for the album he was creating. I politely declined and told him what we need to do is share your story.
In my gut, I knew that his story had the potential to impact hundreds of other people. Four months ago is when I decided to take on The Lion as a personal project. It was something that I found meaning in, a project that isn't driven by commercial success, financial gains or broad swaths of approval and status. That was refreshing.
I came back from work and would squeeze in what time I had left before bed to write, film or edit this project. And every single time I walked away more energized and excited about what I was doing.
In those moments, I felt like I was doing truly meaningful work. I want to leave you with the question, what will you do with your 4,500 waking hour days?