The Third Week of August

Earlier this summer, during the 3rd week of June, enjoying MY 3rd week of August.

Where are you in the calendar of your life?

A few years ago, a "your life in weeks" calendar made the rounds online. It showed, in stark visual contrast, the weeks already behind you versus the weeks still ahead. For some people it created urgency. For others, dread. I, personally, didn't love it because it didn't provide context for me.

I found a variant that creates that context (and also doesn't cause me more urgency or feelings of dread). It attaches that week to a month and season, which I found valuable because it respects where you are in the calendar of your life. It’s a thought experiment, in a way: if you spread your life over one calendar year, where are you on that calendar?

First, you estimate how long you'll live. Of course, no one knows this, but give it a SWAG. For me I initially chose 84, because that was slightly older than my mom at the time and evenly divided by 12 — the months in a year. Rough calculations made me identify that each "calendar month" was 7 life years. So, at the time, I was in my second week of the August of my life.

Already too complicated? I eventually figured out a math formula. Take your current age, divide it by your projected lifespan, and multiply by 52. The result tells you what week of the year you are living in. With rounding, I am at the beginning of my week 33, the third week of August.

Spring is the season of growth and renewal — think youth. Summer the season of fun and energy — our best working years. Fall — enjoyment and slight slowing. Winter — peace and stillness.

Now you might look at that and say that you're fighting aging to the very end, which I applaud. This thought experiment isn't about giving in; rather it's a recognition of where we are and the gifts of that time in life.

I've got a few years left of my summer. But I'm at the point in this season where I'm looking forward to fall. To a little slower pace and an opportunity to reap the harvest, if you will, and celebrate what summer yielded. Pumpkin spice. That all sounds pretty good to me.

I recently had a medical hiccup. Nothing life-altering, but still a reminder about the importance of living the life I have. It reminds me to think about what I am doing with the weeks I have, and what I want to be doing with the ones still ahead.

This has made me think about my health span, not just my lifespan. The time ahead is only as good as the quality I bring to it. What am I doing now to make sure I can enjoy my fall and, later, my winter?

Part of this is being more protective of time. Time is not a renewable resource. For me, that means getting more deliberate about the relationships I nurture, what I say yes to, and doing the work (thank you, therapy) for learning to let go of my unhealthy anxieties.

One tool that has helped me is called a "reverse bucket list." Instead of adding things like a traditional bucket list (which is still full of a lot of travel for me), a reverse bucket list makes you get honest about what is no longer worthy of your time and energy.

If you want to see what week you are in and how that changes your energy and approach to time, here are three things to do this week:

1. What week are you in? Do the calculation: current age / projected age x 52. That is your week. Figure out where it is on the calendar. And notice what feelings it creates: urgency, peace, something else?

2. What matters most right now? Not in the abstract. No big, general categories. Think small: your life, right now, with the people around you.

3. What no longer earns its place (or never really did)? Make your own reverse bucket list of the things you want to begin releasing. This is often a process, one which must start with identifying what to let go of.

   
   

Like me, you are possibly still in your summer, or early fall. Maybe not, though. What matters is not how long you have, it's how you spend the time.

What week are you in?

Build the life you're working for.

— Sarah

P.S. This upcoming week — the actual third week of August — my beautiful, brilliant, engaging, loving sister, Katy, would have turned 56. We really don't know how long we have. She was a delightful reminder of making the most of each day. I love you!