Choose a note to find your everyday life
The Time-Space Continuum (Aging)
What even is the date?
Time is irrelevant.
Moments are what matter.
Did this pen have a cap?
I’m here, age 18, currently studying in university. I suppose now (oh wait there are pens here) is a time to think about what I want to in life, but the future scares me. I guess I hate monotony, waking up every day, going to work, going to sleep, over and over again until I fall apart from old age. I’m not anyone special. I don’t believe I’m capable of something that can free me from this cycle I’ve been put in.
But this museum/art exhibit has been informative, for the lack of a better word. Perhaps I should focus on the smaller things, the individual stories of all sorts of different people. Maybe this can make life a bit less monotonous, by living and experiencing the stories of others.
– From Toronto, Canada
August 14, 2023
I love growing old. I don’t want to go on trips. I’m happy staying home. My body is done and clearly. And there aren’t to many ways to fix it. I’m 79 and I can’t believe how quickly it has come. The days pass so quickly and I don’t seem to accomplish much in one day. I spend my time cooking, cleaning, shopping. Is that enough? I used to be so busy but now what I do, is that enough to be happy at this point in my life?
Kvíði 2023, 5 águst
Ég hef verið með mikin kvíða síðan ég var lítilog hann aukast og aukast en samt batnar hann það fer eftir hvernig mér líður.
5.08.2023
I turned 49 today. Getting officially old I guess. Hair is getting grey and so many people are suddenly younger than me. There are so many things you start to worry about suddenly.
My kids are 18(nearly) and 14. Both on holidays on the opposite side of the world (South Korea). I am so proud of who they have become and at the same time worried sick!
My mom is 80 and just had an accident. She is now in the hospital and I feel guilty of not being with her.
Overall not the best time of my life, except though I have found my soulmate and married her 20 years ago. And since then there is nothing we can not tackle and overcome TOGETHER.
July 24/23
To my younger self:
- Don’t worry so much–it all tends to work out
- You gain so much from the hard bits of life so don’t wish those away Learn from them and realize you are improved because of them.
- Be more spontaneous when an opportunity arises, take it!
- Run, jump for joy, do cartwheels, laugh out loud, dance, raise your arms to the sky. Really, no one is watching you.
- Take risks, especially when you’re younger. That is the best time to do it.
- When you want to compliment a stranger, DO IT! It makes them happy to hear they have a beautiful smile, their outfit is wonderful, their kids are beautiful, whatever.
P.s.
You’ll be happy when you’re 58 too – every age can be great!
Everything will be
Alright
You have left
Wonderful things
In the world even
If you haven’t notice
And your presence is still
A light, a
Beautiful light
July 14th 2023
I thought I would be more ok with getting older. I’m 58 years old. My wife tells me I should be happy to get older. It’s a bigger problem when you stop getting older. Somehow, that’s not enough for me though. It’s about realizing that I’m running out of time to realize some of the many dreams I had in my life.
I still haven’t given up on them, but maybe
I should
Some of them involve(financial) risks and maybe I’m too old to take those risks.
Definitely something to think about,
Food for thought!
But.. let’s not take too long to think.
Time is getting shorter!
CARL (from Belgium)
August 11 2023
So, to begin this note. I am not old. I am 27 years old. But I have spent much time in deep awareness of my mortality. Since I was a child I have feared birthdays. I physically get sick. The idea of being thrust forward in times when I don’t feel ready is paralyzing. Im reaching the part of my Adulthood when people around me are starting to be younger than I am. But I still see parts of myself in them. Everything feels as though its speeding up, and I remember being a teenager feeling like life would be this way forever. Frozen in time. But my life now, I would be mesmerized by, had I saw it through the eyes of my 15 year old self. I was on team Canada for dance, I moved out to the big city, I live in my own big apartment I have a job that pays me well. But so often I feel as though Ive been coasting through life and everyone I love is moving on their own clock. Growing old beside me. The idea that we are going to slowly fade away is frightening to me. I fear not taking enough risks, as now is the time to do them. So I took this trip to Iceland with my good friend, to move memories and change perspective I hope when we return home our Daily life, things feel different. And my life feels more like mine. I want to be more present as I age.
– Laurel
Vancouver BC, Canada
7/10/23
I try to make perfect routines, be a person who does the same thing each day at the right time on the right days. Drink healthy smoothies, jog, read, journal, then go to work.
But I don’t do that. Days are always different and not in an intentional exciting way. But it works for me. Most weekdays I work, managing a research lab at a university. I like it most days, grateful for it all days. My dad has glioblastoma, its a rare and aggressive brain cancer. For the past 1.5 years or so now. On Sundays and Wednesdays I drive 35ish minutes to my parents house to spend the whole day with him and sometimes my mum too. Its bittersweet. We talk, we work on his poetry some days. He’s religious and I’m not but were more similar than I ever acknowledged before. He’s open and soft now in a way it was hard to access before and that is beautiful. I feel heavy those days and listen to arabic music on the way home. I cuddle my partner and our dogs in our new house. It feels like the world is hard but right here. We have coffee and breakfast together on saturdays. We walk the dogs together at night. Its hot where we live. I turn 30 in a few weeks, I feel lucky most days. I study neuroscience and I’m so proud of myself. My friends are good and queer and love love things like mushrooms and rocks. The days are different, I can’t cultivate a perfect stability. But we have, we made a world together and the days work, one after another.
7/24/23
We love you Iceland!
Your wind drives us crazy and you hid your best parts under blankets of fog and cloud. WE try so hard to slow down and see every part and relax. Ironically, we feel the need to look longer see more and we feel pressed for time.
Is this how life will always be?! Striving to relax, slow down and enjoy but when we look at the years and days we have left we feel we need to jury up or we will miss out and not get to all the things we want to do!
I guess these are happy problems.
Life moves fast, especially when you are not paying attention and being purposeful.
My kids are grown and out of the house. My working life is near to a close.
So many wonderful things have happened. I need to pause and take stock. I have so much to be thankful for. So much to look forward to.
I just need to stop and pause and think more often. The thankfulness and gratitude for what I have will the, have the space to come rushing in
I am afraid of growing old, but at the same time I am grateful for it. Trying to reconcile turning 40 with still feeling I have so much 20 in me.
Diana
28 June 2023
Things seem easier and better when there is time to think about them, respond to them and appreciate/ understand them. I feel the value today of slowing down. It seems counterintuitive but taking more time makes better time.
As I run to retirement I note how my body can no lover stand the rigor of constant movement and lack of sleep time to pause and accept mortality!
June 23, 2023 – KLR
Aging scares me, but I can’t wait to rock my grey hair.
Bet I’ll be a really cool grandma.
At least I hope so.
June 21.23 – S.L.
I have lived in a big city all my life. But these past few years I have been traveling a lot. I have realized I love the ida of something smaller. Coming here has really that more evident. And as I get older I realized that now is the time to make changes . Not when I retire, as I have been lead to believe all my life. Take chances in life at all ages.