What's Unfinished?

As we get older and busier, we naturally look for ways to prune our schedules. We trade friends time for family time, long hours for shorter hours, pay a dude to mow the lawn, people to clean the house, give up on collecting coupons and just grab that brick of ramen. It comes down to prioritization of what’s important, but what is important?

It’s easy to say the job and family are important. Or the family is important and by extension the job and all the DIY support stuff. Even if you didn’t think family was important, society will set you straight fast. So, as life gets busy, it seems natural that everything gets pushed aside to ensure the job, family, and that core stuff gets the best parts of your efforts.

But is that satisfying? And is it even necessary?

Here’s a thought exercise: you just found out you’re dying. Tomorrow. Boom, a timebomb blood vessel in your brain is about to fucking explode. You’re waking up dead and there’s nothing they can do about it. Hopefully, the rest of your day involves making peace with the world and saying goodbye.

Now, look past the shock and horror and tears. Beyond the torrent of emotions, the planning center of your brain is also active. What’s it saying? What area of your life is it targeting with the time you have left. More importantly, where are you coming up short?

The dire nature of this exercise helps strip away the fluff you’ve been told is important leaving only what is actually important to … and this is a huge point … you. After all, you’re living your life for you, aren’t you? (I get it, you’re giving, caring and all that. But giving and caring to those you’ve chosen to be part of your life. It’s still yours.)

So, what popped into mind when you realized there was no tomorrow? What have you been putting off?

Time with friends? A hobby? Might be the job if it’s part of your legacy. Was it something surprising? A paintbrush you put down 30 years ago. The saxophone. An unfinished song, uncarved wood, a block of marble because you are a motherfucking sculptor in a society that doesn’t have time for you? The raw needs of kids, loved ones, and family aside, some part of you is unfinished.

Finish it.

That’s your priority. It probably wont make you money, it’ll probably piss off the people trying to manage and own your time, it may not make sense to your friends and family. But it’s you. Put the hours in. Doesn’t matter if it’s ripping up little pieces of paper to make a giant confetti bomb. That shit is you and if you don’t finish the confetti bomb, what the fuck was your life for? Making kids so they can just make more kids who wont finish their confetti bombs? Or maybe you just made a lot of money. Cool story, could you have made a little less money? When you’re 80 and signing over your power of attorney to someone else as your health degrades, do you kinda wish you could trade some of that cash to finish what you started?

I mean, hey if you looked doom in the face and smiled because you’re sitting on a block of cheddar, then that’s awesome. But if you’re like a lot of people, there’s a need for more. Stuff that the daily grind wont provide. Stuff you started, want to start, or were born to do. 5,000 runners in a marathon isn’t 4,999 losers. It’s people working towards finishing.