I am billions of years old.
It's time to act that way.
The atoms that form my body were created billions of years ago. Nothing in me is new or original... except for the thoughts and feelings that emerge from this ancient container.
These thoughts feel urgent. Personal. As if the universe paused its endless expansion to whisper a few unrepeatable utterances through me.
But soon, this temporary arrangement—this “me”—will dissolve. The atoms will stay. My ideas won’t.
If I'm honest, the thought of my atoms being rearranged terrifies me. Horror! I will die! Cease to exist!
Nope.
My atoms will still be here. In time, they’ll be part of something far bigger than “me.”
The idea of “me” was never the point. It was the shape life wore for a while—to see itself, to ask questions, to wonder what it all means.
Viewed in this light, it seems silly that after billions of years, a handful of atoms experience anxiety because the shape they form for less than a hundred years isn’t permanent.
Nothing is permanent—although the existence of my atoms is pretty damn close.
Perhaps peace begins when we stop demanding permanence from a universe that only promises transformation.
You are older than humanity. Older than this planet. You have more in common with the universe than with any human invention or convention.
Maybe it’s time you remembered that.
We’ve all gotta hurry up and think more thoughts like THIS!
When I was still teaching in the classroom I’d remind my students that the air, 'atoms' they breathed in were the same as the atoms a dinosaur breathed out. The person seated next to them in class would breathe them in within seconds. A person in China would be breathing them in within months or years. The plants around us 'breathed' them out. We are one with every thing.