Problem:
I’m not sure this is a problem, but this morning I was watching Sunday Morning on CBS. I watched as all the celebrities were called out as having passed away this year. It was so many that I knew of, that I was surprised and wondered how the young people of our time today would have even known them or their body of work? I see the obituaries in the newspaper or online and I think about how much time do we have on this earth. My husband thinks I’m morbid, but we are both getting up there in age, and it could be us on the list of people who passed through and ended their journey on earth.
Maybe it’s just aging and wondering about life and what a difference anyone makes. My children are grown and gone, and I seldom see them. They live quite a way out of state.
I stayed around to take care of my parents; it seemed to be what needed to be done, but this time in the world it is not like that. The holidays came and went, and we all talked by phone, but of course it wasn’t the same as time spent. Many people don’t have time for each other on a daily basis, much less on a holiday.
Am I being morbid? Is it just the holidays? Am I depressed? Am I just getting old?
Discussion:
We all age. People die and that is the truth. I suppose that our time on earth is limited, but the truth is that we don’t have to be. It seems that there is a call to create meaning while we are here and possibly making some impact somehow or other.
Not all of us are going to do our work of living like other people do. We are called in many ways to do so many things. Some are small things like just being a loving person…but the truth is that is no small thing.Since life is finite, maybe you look and examine and ask: what is left for me? How do I want to live, what joy and purpose can I imagine, and how can I share it with the time I have left here on Earth?
I don’t think you are morbid, I think you are a living human being who has questions of life and death. It seems rather natural to have questions as we age. You have heard the phrase “don’t die with your music still in you.” At different times in our life, we find big questions and our music changes at that time. The times in our lives are not the same for each generation. So, I don’t believe there is any comparison.
We are not done because of age. It could seem limiting because we don’t do what we used to. We do have bigger questions and have time to think and grow and still become the person we are meant to be. It seems like it takes a little evaluation. If you had not watched your show on CBS, maybe you would not have gotten inspiration to have the questions that came up. Maybe this whole thing caught your attention because you need to begin to ask the big questions.
One of my favorite writers was Wayne Dyer. He wrote so many books and inspired me to think. I found out he has been gone for over ten years. I was so surprised because he was so meaningful to me. But I also remember my grandma; she inspired me with simple loving kindness and just being a sincere role model. We all seem to leave an imprint. Brush up on your imprint, it’s personal.
To submit problems, contact Juanita Sanchez, psychotherapist, by email at [email protected] or through High Plains Journal.
