Right now you and I are both as young as we’ll ever be again. Time keeps going and it won’t stop for us.
I’m 19 years, 10 months, and 21 days old. That’s about 7,265 days old. After today, I’ll never be 7,265 days old again. The hundreds of millions of seconds I’ve spent alive so far will eventually hit a billion, (although I won’t have to worry about that for another 12 years.) Time keeps going and going.
Before moving to the Philippines I thought that I would make use of my time here and become a Renaissance Man. Professional coaching lessons that would normally run you about $50/hour in the U.S. only costs about $3/hour out here for the same quality (if not better.)
In preparation of my move, I wrote down a list of things to learn so I can master everything I could possibly think of. So far, I’ve done none of those things except tennis, a sport I’ve been playing since before high school. No Argentine tango, firing guns, bartending, or drum lessons. There are about a dozen other things I want to tackle but I haven’t even bothered to look up more information online.
I also thought about all the traveling I’d be doing out here because flights in Southeast Asia are so cheap! Yet, I haven’t left the city of Davao since first arrival. It won’t be until June before I explore outside and it may not be until October before I visit another country aside from the Philippines. I’ve been too comfortable here and told myself lies like “travel is too expensive” knowing full well that it’s incredibly affordable.
I’m freaking 19! There’s no better time to learn a ton of valuable skills and explore the world than now!
Am I waiting to get older? Am I waiting until I’m 1 billion seconds old, or 31-years old, before I fill up my Passport with stamps?
You and I will never again be as young as we are right now in this very moment.
There’s a healthy mix of people who are all over the spectrum, ranging from absolutely maximizing the amount of time they have for self-enjoyment all the way to spending it piss poorly. On the scale, I’m probably leaning more towards “spending it piss poorly” simply because the potential to do so much more is there for me. There are honestly zero excuses as to why I’m not taking cool private lessons and traveling around Asia.
There’s been a lot of “do as I say and not as I do” being published here these past few weeks. Hopefully that just means I’m being more honest with myself, but I wonder if these are inferior to lessons where it’s leading by doing, showing by example, etc. Whatever, I’m cool with it.
I’ve always said this blog is for both me and the reader, so if writing posts like this is therapeutic for me then so be it. It’s made me realize I need to start using my time to explore more hobbies and sports, like teaching myself how to swim. That’s long been overdue.
Enough about me. Over to you.
What are some things you want to do that you’ve been procrastinating on?
What are your friends doing that you’re jealous of and why aren’t you doing it too?
How well are you you using your time?
Photo Credit: Muha on Flickr
I’m not procrastinating on anything. My life is full and busy. There are some things I’d like to do but will have to wait. So, yes, we only have so much time, but some things also require patience and faith.
Agreed, Dan!
Left me speechless yet again, I love Mondays.
These are the types of posts that really get me fired up!
Glad to hear. 🙂
As someone who has travelled extensively through Asia for a year before landing in Macau, I can only recommend checking out what’s around Vincent! There’s so much beauty to see, places are so close and at the same time so different!
If you don’t mind me asking, what are the reasons that prevented you from travelling (or taking the courses)? Fear? Anxiety? Laziness? Priorities?
For me, like Dan, I don’t usually procrastinate. I have a “someday” list where I put all the things I’ll want to do. Once I finish one, I pick another one. I run no more than 3 projects at once, so things take time and it’s normal. I try to prioritize according to what’s important for me and my level of tiredness. For example I’ve been working for 2 months on the DailyCuckoo project and that was pretty heavy emotionally, so after I’ve just picked a new recipe to cook! Now I’m taking some courses, and I will start working on launching a blog. Maybe procrastination will show up then? Let’s see. Cheers.
A mix of fear and laziness. First time out of the country brought me to Davao (boasts 4th safest city in the world.) Since then, exploring other parts of Asia and leaving such a safe city sounds terrifying! I know that realistically there probably won’t be anything that goes wrong, but there’s still a bit of fear there.
As for taking courses, just laziness!
Except some parts in the Philippines (extremists) and maybe Indonesia (Jakarta), Asia is super safe. The worst things that can happen to you is your stuff or money getting stolen (but always by tricks, never by force), and getting a BJ from what you believed was a girl but is not 😀
Have fun!
Hi my name is nikki,
Your questions have really put things into perspective for me in neutral zones of consciousness i flurr in and out of. Questions seem to be the ultimate guide to the path of introspection but coming up with your own questions of self can be difficult.. could you come up with more questions? Some that really dig deep and get us all out of our comfort zones.. thanks for the inspiration!-Nikki
Sounds like an idea for a new article! 🙂
When will you be done reading about all the cool things others are doing and instead be the one doing it?
How many people will you inspire with your stories?
What are you doing now that would make someone else want to be you?
Hey Vincent,
A really nifty book I’ve read on productivity told me that there are two main reasons why people procrastinate. 1. you don’t know how to do a task. 2. you do not like doing the task. For me, the reason why i havne’t looked at my computer programming code in a week is because I’ve been stuck on it for hours when I looked at it last. The solution the book said to take is to break the problem into parts and make actionable steps towards it. For me, that was asking forums for help, googling, reading books. I went to a hackathon this weekend and made a couple developer friends who offered to help me when I’m stuck so now I have no excuse to procrastinate any longer 🙂 Best of luck to you!
I totally agree! When I procrastinate it’s usually because I don’t want to do the task. Back in high school and college that meant homework (because who wants to do that?)
Maybe I don’t really want to travel as much as I thought I do? 😛
I am starting to really warm up to not just your blog, but to you. And maybe that is it. You sure know how to lift one’s spirit. As I was reading, forever young and Tonight we are young kept playing somewhere in my mind’s background.
Love comments like this, Tope. That’s the sort of thing that makes writing every week worth it.
“Timely” blog Vincent! As soon as you hit 20 it’s all downhill from there. No…just kidding. You are a great guy and having a ball. What could be better? You have the right idea. As we climb the mountain it is part of the journey to stop once in a while to enjoy the view.
Nothing could be better! Well, maybe a few things. I wouldn’t mind someone dropping $1 billion in my pocket nor would I mind being a pro swimmer. 😉
Hey! The last 3 questions reminded me of what i should be doing! Just completed a huge project and was being too relax and unproductive. I need to step it up and those questions gave me the push I need! Thanks!
NIce! What sort of huge project did you finish?
You’ve achieved a lot for 19, Vincent! But go out and explore even more and continue crushing life!
By the way, you can’t swim? Haha… 😀 Or maybe you want to be a better swimmer?
Can’t swim! My buddy told me about the Total Immersion method. I went out to the pool to try it out and it went pretty well. MUCH better than all of my other attempts. Although I still haven’t gotten the breathing down…
“What are your friends doing that you’re jealous of and why aren’t you doing it too?”
Playing a musical instrument. Hiring a tutor is expensive so that’s something I need to put off until I have the money (and time for that matter).
And Vincent…wait until you become 20. All sorts of epiphanies kicks in when I celebrated my 20th birthday haha.
I want to learn the drums but I can’t find any drum lessons in Davao! Aghh…
I’m almost there. 🙂
Great post Vince! I miss reading posts like this. I myself has a lot of ‘wannados’ but so few of them I have accomplished. Sounds like procrastination. And one of them is learning how to swim! Haha
Since it’s on both of our lists then perhaps we can learn together? 😛
Chronological time doesn’t matter that much. We are young as far as we have young mind and our body let us enjoy our life.
If we live without constantly waiting for something happen to us in the future and we just appreciate the present, time flying seems suddenly less upsetting.
Thanks for the post, good as always!
That’s one thing I noticed about myself compared to past years. I no longer wait and hope for something exciting to happen. Usually that’s how you get bored!
I’m so happy I found this site! I love it!! Thanks for the inspiring post – you have a new dedicated reader 🙂
Woohoo! Glad to hear, Katie and I hope we see you in the comments again. 🙂
I well remember that line in the Robin Williams starrer “Dead Poets’ society” … Carpe Diem! Seize the day! We’ll never be this young again.
Carpe diem is always a great one!