A Sobering Reality about All of Us

[DonRocks]

33 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Oh my God I just found out I'm older than Jim O'Heir.

Always have been!

It's a sobering thought, realizing that 15+ billion years went by without you being alive, and who-knows-how-many billions of years will pass after you're no longer alive.

Talk about a blip in time!

Being non-existent doesn't bother me; dying to me don't sound like all that much fun,
Don Cougar

PS - If you want to die early, fixate on visualizing the beginning of time, or the end of space. Like a cat trying to understand calculus.

Moral of the story: Treat yo'self.

[DonRocks]

On a tangential note, I think there's a similarity between these two things, though I'm not sure what it is:

* Mr. X loses a million dollars in the stock market one year, then makes it back the next. Mr. Y makes a million dollars in the stock market one year, then loses it the next. Mr. X is overjoyed; Mr. Y is miserable - yet, they're both in the exact same place.

* Nobody has ever grieved or been sad before Mr. Z was born, but everybody is grieving and sad after Mr. Z dies - yet, Mr. Z is in the exact same state. (*)

These all-but disprove the adage, "T'is better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." 

(*) Thinking about this is actually a valuable coping mechanism for dealing with a deceased loved one.

[Al Dente]

This is well worth a listen:  http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-my-life-so-hard/

The headwind/tailwind asymmetry. 

GILOVICH: The idea should be familiar to anyone who cycles or runs for exercise. Sometimes you’re running or cycling into the wind, and it’s not pleasant. You’re aware of it the whole time. It’s retarding your progress and you can’t wait until the course changes so that you get the wind at your back. And when that happens you’re grateful for about a minute. And very quickly, you no longer notice the wind at your back that’s helping push you along. And what’s true when it comes to running or cycling is true of life generally.

Mr. X is enjoying the tailwinds, whereas Mr. Y is miserable in the headwinds.