Whatever age and stage we are at in life, we can always carpe diem, we can always choose to make our lives extraordinary.
Right now back home in Cayman for the first time in eighteen months. Evenings and this weekend I’m spending lots of time with my three sons, during the days (when they are at work), I’m meeting up with lots of people I haven’t seen for a long time, catching up on their news and where they are now.
When you live on a small island you also bump into so many people wherever you go and catch up with them too, so you always seem to know all the news, both business and personal. However, living away from Cayman and not having visited for eighteen months, while I remain very connected to business here remotely, I’d lost touch with a lot of people’s personal news.
One thing I am sitting with is how many people, some even around my age (55), have either died or are really ill.
I’ve also noticed (as Cayman has many people who retire relatively young and pretty wealthy) how many people are now retired here and passing their days mostly at leisure. I wonder at them simply passing the days and where they find meaning and purpose now they are financially comfortable. Some may be happy, though others may have lost much of their sense of identity from ending their professional role and be wandering through life marking time. Who knows (though I am curious and do ask and listen with some who I know).
My mind turns to what it means for me to be middle-aged. First, I’m very lucky. I have my health as do my sons, parents and all my direct family. Though some have had covid, all are fully recovered too. I, therefore, have far fewer responsibilities and need to plan for the future than I did ten or twenty years ago. It is an odd feeling at times to recognise that I have very few day-to-day needs or wants, let alone to support others financially or even with care around age or infirmity.
At the same time, one reality of my age and stage in life is that this could change at any moment. When I was 20, 30, 40, even 50, I gave such realities of the human condition little thought. Now I do.
What do I do with this? I choose to look at every challenge being an opportunity, so embrace ageing as a reminder to seize the day, “Carpe Diem”.
More and more I am present to every moment, feeling them with gratitude. This is especially so simply spending time with my sons while here, as it may again be a while before I see them in person. It is also about meeting up with people around Cayman. Sure, I love business, but life is about people and relationships in the end, so I am so much more focussed on simply spending time with people and simply being with them, listening to them, sharing stories and experiences old and new.
I close with a passage from Dead Poet’s Society, where Robin Williams takes his class of young men to a room with a gallery of old photos of previous similar classes.
“They’re not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they’re destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? – – Carpe – – hear it? – – Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.“
Whatever age and stage we are at in life, we can always carpe diem, we can always choose to make our lives extraordinary.
Oh, and Robin Williams died at 63. He indeed made his life extraordinary. “Oh Captain, My Captain!” (link is to another clip from the film, brings tears to my eyes every time).