Every month I write a pep talk to (hopefully) inspire, motivate, or pick you up if you’re feeling down. Think of it as both nurturing encouragement and your ‘kick up the butt’ to get going on your goals or dreams (or just help you feel good).
One day, you’ll be dead.
Sorry to put a downer on whatever kind of day you were just having, but it’s always been true. One day, there will be a world without you in it.
I’m not saying this to bum you out, but rather to put everything in perspective.
The universe we currently exist in is expanding faster than we can determine (and I’ve never quite been able to wrap my head around what it’s even expanding into…). This is a universe that is already about 93 billion light-years in diameter already. That means it takes 93 billion years for the light from one side to reach the other.
93. Billion. Years.
Put trivial things into perspective
I know this blog isn’t a science journal or anything close, but I’m trying to show you how minuscule we are in the world. I mean, minuscule doesn’t even come close. Our entire lives – humanity’s very existence – aren’t even a single blink in the universe’s radar.
So why do we let really trivial things hold so much significance?
And I know, I know, it really doesn’t matter how much the universe is expanding when everything’s falling apart around you in your life on Earth, when you’re stuck in this society, where no one gives a crap about space. I in no way want to trivialise your issues. They are real, and they can be 93 billion light-years big.
But sometimes, in some situations, try just taking a step back and thinking about that universe stretching all around you. At the magnitude of it, at the infiniteness of it, and of the fleeting nanosecond your life is a part of it. And ask yourself what really matters in that moment.
You are part of something bigger
Life is random. And nonsensical. And short. We give way too much power to things that aren’t even going to matter in five hours, let alone five years. Put things into perspective and do what makes you happy. Let the little things go. Worry a whole lot less.
Because the universe is expanding right now. The Earth is moving right now. Time is ticking on, and all that matters is whether you are safe and happy right now.
There’s still a whole lot we don’t know about the world. About life itself. So let’s not pretend to. Let’s focus on the basics. Let’s pour our existence into loving people, into focusing on our health, on making sure we’re happy. Because, in the end, those are the only real things that matter, right?
Everything else will get lost in the expansion. One day you won’t be here anymore, and what will it all mean then?
Remember you are part of something so much bigger. And act accordingly.
This pep talk is part of a series I write each month, to help motivate, inspire, and give you a boost, either in work or personally – if you like this and want more, find previous pep talks here.
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