The Myth of the Short Life

Most people, Paulinus, rage against nature like it’s some kind of petty tyrant. “Life’s too short!” they whine. “Even the little time we get flies by so fast that by the time most of us figure out how to live, it’s already over.”

And it’s not just the masses who moan about this so-called universal injustice. Even the greats have joined the chorus. Take Hippocrates—the godfather of medicine himself—who grumbled, “Life is short, art is long.” Or Aristotle, who threw a tantrum at nature for giving animals five lifetimes while cutting humans short, despite our potential for greatness.

But here’s the truth: The problem isn’t that life is short. It’s that we waste most of it away.

We’ve been given enough time to do extraordinary things—if we’d actually use it. Instead, we blow it on distractions, mindless pleasures, and chasing things that don’t matter. Then, one day, we wake up and realize it’s all gone, and we never even noticed it slipping through our fingers.

The reality? Life isn’t lacking. We’re just reckless with it. A fortune vanishes in the hands of an unwise, but even modest wealth grows when managed wisely. Same with time: it stretches far enough for those who treat it like the precious, finite resource it is.