{"id":649,"date":"2010-12-08T08:49:29","date_gmt":"2010-12-08T08:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/12\/uncle-jasons-birthday-reflections-part-3.html"},"modified":"2010-12-08T08:49:29","modified_gmt":"2010-12-08T08:49:29","slug":"uncle-jasons-birthday-reflections-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/omeoflittlefaith\/2010\/12\/uncle-jasons-birthday-reflections-part-3.html","title":{"rendered":"Uncle Jason’s Birthday Reflections (Part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginning with<\/b> Monday’s birthday post<\/a>, I’ve been listing three important things I’ve learned over the years. The first was that it’s better to spend money on experiences<\/a> rather than material things (unless those things contribute to the experience, of course). The second was that income can be replaced, but time cannot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s the final thing I’ve learned:<\/p>\n

3. Life is too short to spend it ___________ (fill in the blank).<\/b>
\nI suppose this is related to #2, because life is too short to spend all
\nof it working. After all, why do you work? Isn’t it so you can have
\nenough money to do other things you want<\/i> to do? But it applies in a lot of places, and I’ve been known to fill in the blank with a lot of different scenarios.<\/p>\n

Life is too short to spend it comparing myself to others.<\/i>
\nThere will always be better writers, better speakers, more successful
\nwriters, more popular bloggers, people with more twitter followers, etc.
\nBut I’m not them. I’m me. If I spend my time obsessed about how I don’t
\nmeasure up, I’ll forget to enjoy the things in my life of which others
\nmight be envious. Like my spectacular dance moves.<\/p>\n

Life is too short to spend it worrying about things you can’t change.<\/i>
\nSometimes bad things happen. The car breaks down. You get sick. You
\nmess up your knee by passing out in the shower right before the
\nhalf-marathon you’d been training for (to use a completely random
\nexample). You can direct all your mental energy toward being frustrated
\nabout your negative situation, or you can look past it, try to fix it,
\nand make plans for the next challenging scenario. You can dwell in the
\npast or try to make the best of the present.<\/p>\n

Life is too short to spend it reading a book I’m not enjoying.<\/i>
\nOooh. It took me a long time to get to this point. I used to have to
\nfinish a book I had started, even if I hated it. (I’m looking at you, Steppenwolf<\/i><\/a>.) But now? If it hasn’t grabbed me in the first 100 pages, I have no problem abandoning it.<\/p>\n

Life is too short to spend all of it at church.<\/i>
\nFor shame! But true. My wife and I both grew up attending every event
\nand activity available at our church. We’re both exceedingly grateful
\nfor our upbringing, but with our own kids we just don’t see the
\nnecessity of doing everything. Honestly? We’d rather stay home and play
\nSettlers of Catan or Monopoly. We try to be deliberate with our time
\nand, rather than attending out of obligation, we get involved with the
\nthings that give us 1) the most family-wide benefit, or 2) the most
\nopportunity to serve or get involved as befits our skills or talents.<\/p>\n

Life is too short to spend it focused only on yourself and your own comfort.<\/i>
\nThis is a necessary balance to pretty much everything else I’ve listed
\nabove, because many of these things benefit me and my family. A healthy
\nfamily life means looking outward as well as inward, so it’s important
\nto get involved in other things — financial donations, opportunities to
\nserve, helping friends — just to combat basic self-absorption.<\/p>\n

Life is too short to spend too much time blogging, or on twitter.<\/i> Still working on this one.<\/p>\n

The point? Life is short. Time is precious. Be careful how you spend it.<\/p>\n

————–<\/p>\n

There are lots more<\/b> “Life is too short…” statements we could make. If you’d like, submit your own in the comments.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginning with Monday’s birthday post, I’ve been listing three important things I’ve learned over the years. The first was that it’s better to spend money on experiences rather than material things (unless those things contribute to the experience, of course). The second was that income can be replaced, but time cannot. 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