LIFE IN YOUR YEARS

This year I read Cancer Ward by Alexandr Soltzenitzin for the third time. I loved this book the first time I read it. The second time, again, I was amazed at his descriptive language, his wonderful storytelling and how this hospital in a post-communist Soviet society so resembled our world today. The third time I read it, it knocked me over. I must have crimped the corners of nearly one-third of the book. What had changed? What surfaces now that didn’t then? My experience speaks to CS Lewis’s comment, “I can’t understand a man only reading a good book once.”

Whatever it is, it is wonderful. I highly recommend it. Maybe not this book necessarily, though it is fantastic. However, it may not be for you, right now. What I can fully recommend is finding a good book and reading it several times.

In Cancer Ward there is reference to a parable or folk tale about Allah telling man he is giving him 25 years to live. Man was not happy and felt this was not enough time. He asked Allah if he could bargain years away from some of the animals. Allah said, “Do as you wish.”

So, man bargained 25 years each from the horse, dog and monkey.

Allah said, “Okay, so now for 25 years you will live like a man. The next 25 you will work like a horse. The next 25 you will yap like a dog. The last 25 they will laugh at you like a monkey.”

The parable is told and referenced in other works. There is a version that uses God and a version that uses a donkey instead of a horse.

What lands for me, and maybe for you, is when we are bargaining for more time, we are likely missing the mark. Trying to defy or control nature, rarely ends well.

Adding years to our lives at any cost or complexity is not just trending, it is gaining traction in mainstream medical practices. The longevity industry was valued at 25 billion in 2020 and surpassed 750 billion in 2025. It is projected to hit 47 trillion by 2030.

The parable provides a message for at least two principles of doing what matters that can be helpful for a life full of resilience and joy. Can you think of which ones they might be? I will cover the ones that shine brightest in part two of this article next year.

I was discussing with a client recently the story of Eddie Jaku. How fascinating it was that he lived to the age of one-hundred and one without any modern biohacking strategies. He did however employ many of the simple strategies of doing what matters. Most importantly, the value of deliberate rest and doing less versus more.

Less, can be and most often is, more.