Have you ever seen paintings of medieval scholars, bent over their books with candles dripping wax, and a skull sitting in the window? That was a tradition to remind them of where we all end up, to keep them humble, and to spur them to be productive and not waste time.
A few years ago I stumbled upon this great web site that had a similar effect on me. It's called
Deathclock.com It allows you to enter in certain coordinates - your age, your body mass index (it gives you a calculating tool for that), whether or not you smoke, and something about your frame of mind. Your can choose from Optimistic, Nomal, Pessimistic, and Sadistic. Using these factors, the site calculates your "Personal Day of Death."
When I calculated my personal day of death, I was told that I only had about 15 years left! I tried changing around the different variables, making myself twenty pounds thinner, or saying I was a smoker. The only thing that changed my outcome significantly for the better was lying and saying that I was an "Optimist" instead of a Pessimist. This added years to my life!!
So I did a little math: If I'm depressed, I only have fifteen years to live. And if I only have fifteen years left, I sure don't want to be depressed the whole time! I decided to go on antidepressants. They worked! (They seem to have made me gain weight, but as I learned from Deathclock, this won't make that much difference in my longevity.)
Although it's probably not completely "scientific," I found this a very useful exercise. Go ahead and give it a
spin.
posted by Lisa Moscatiello #
7:49 AM |
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