I have long struggled to shed my childhood penchant for instant gratification.\u00a0 Though aware of the need to pace myself for the long haul, I nonetheless prioritize the power of the current moment, with no regrets.\u00a0 Of course, I am not so reckless as to obliterate my obligations to my daughter, to my law partner, to my career, to my family, to my community.\u00a0 But, with each personal and national tragedy, I am again reminded that, for me, reserving fun and accomplishment for an uncertain date hence is anathema.<\/p>\n
As the gray and white hairs of wisdom begin to populate my visage, I have realized that the divide between short- and long-term happiness is a false dichotomy.\u00a0 Fearing that I was forsaking my future for today\u2019s enjoyment, I had not found intellectual peace with that which feels intuitively correct.\u00a0 By embracing the long view of life, I was able to reconcile the immediate with the infinite, to be at once spontaneous and prudent.<\/p>\n
The long view requires a recognition that, assuming time is linear, the quibbles of the present are a comically small blip on the spectrum of history.\u00a0 Consider this thought exercise:\u00a0 if we posit that the Earth was formed at midnight and you are reading this page twenty-four hours later at the next midnight, then humans arrived on the scene at 11:59:59, a mere minute ago.\u00a0 As a species, we are inconsequential in geologic time.\u00a0 As individuals, we matter that much less.\u00a0 Internalizing that perspective helps manage the pressure.<\/p>\n
The long view need not stretch for epochs to be effective.\u00a0 It can provide a coping mechanism for the heaviness of daily living.\u00a0 Today may present seemingly impossible challenges, but believing that the next week or month or year will bring positive change is the type of incentive that we all need to tackle each day.\u00a0 Especially now.<\/p>\n
The long view is particularly useful in conflict resolution.\u00a0 Locked in a dispute, the parties each feel as if it is all-encompassing and never-ending; the anger of the quarrel taints each waking and slumbering moment. \u00a0But, if one realizes that the underlying issue will not matter in a week\u2019s or year\u2019s or decade\u2019s time, it is that much more compelling to drop the matter immediately, to not subject oneself to the torture of fighting about something that really does not matter in the long run.<\/p>\n
Our sociopolitical and economic systems are dysfunctional because they ignore the long view in favor of short election cycles and the immediate accumulation of capital.\u00a0 We should be patiently building a society, tending to its needs with advances in thought and medicine and technology.\u00a0 Instead, we plunder our human and environmental resources in order to enrich the greediest, most ruthless, most shameless among our citizens.\u00a0 I tend to believe that the health of our planet and the psyche of our citizenry are the most important ends, but perhaps I am insane.<\/p>\n
My focus is on quality time with Violet, deeper connections with fewer clients, long days out skiing and biking, animated meals with friends.\u00a0 In so doing, I forego material wealth and other trappings of alleged success.\u00a0 Theoretically it is a conundrum; but it never seems as such to me.\u00a0 Taking the long view, I will never look back as an old man and regret that I took the time to savor those irreplaceable moments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"