BY WILLIAM ROUTHIER
There is a Gary Larson Far Side cartoon I have a clear memory of, but can’t for the life of me find online, that shows half of an astonished old woman coming through a hoop, held by a man in white robes. The other half of the hoop shows a youthful woman’s shapely legs. The caption: “That Old Devil, Time.”
Anyone who’s older knows this is exactly how it is. There are all the cliches—it goes by in a flash, seems like only yesterday, when I was young the summers lasted forever—and all of them are true.
But as we make our journey forward, measuring out the coming years more carefully than we ever have, there are ways to expand this precious time before us.
The first way to expand time as we age is a simple one:
Don’t consider yourself old.
The Rolling Stones, with Mick Jagger, 80, has just released what the critics are calling their best album since the 1970’s. Their last album of original songs came out in 2005. Adjectives like “astonishing” pepper the reviews. How did they do it? Jagger explained that they set themselves a deadline, and in under three months, it was done.
Set yourself an audacious goal.
This is how to expand time as we age. Time itself, of course, will be the same, but what you pack into it will be different. I can attest to this from my personal experience.
Two years ago, I moved into a small cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and began to set writing goals for myself. I had always written consistently throughout my life—fiction, poetry, journalism—but I wanted to do more than I had previously. I was inspired by the words of Buddhist philosopher and educator Daisaku Ikeda:
“Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. However, if you use those hours wisely, you can accomplish a week’s worth of effort in a day, or 10 years’ worth of effort in a year. I have lived my life with that spirit.” *
Here’s what I did:
One can take this quote as a lofty statement that then proceed to forget about, or actually take it to heart and try to practice it. Which I did. The results are that in the two years I’ve been living here I’ve produced the following:
- A 50,000-word novel that I’m shopping to agents.
- Fourteen-thousand words in an ongoing journal on my life here in the cabin.
- From the journal, I sold an excerpt/story to New Hampshire Magazine **
- Seventy poems, three of which were published in journals.
- Thirty-two articles for my two Substack pages, Muddy Water and Philosoph-ease
- Ten thousand words of a new novel—a ghost story set in New Hampshire.
- Finally, I translated the first four books of Homer’s The Odyssey, using an “old Greek” software dictionary and referencing other English translations.
Lest you think I just get up, write, and that’s my day, I also have a job at the front desk of a lovely inn, four to five nights a week. One of those nights, I host an Open Mic Night, since I play guitar and sing.
So, did this take some herculean effort on my part? No. What it took was applying the principle laid out by American journalist Mary Heaton Vorse:
“The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.”***
I still watch a streaming TV series now and then and go out and do social things. I just keep going back to my desk. That’s all. In three hours before going to work, I can sometimes write 500 words, sometimes more. I find pockets of time I’d otherwise waste.
There are many creative pursuits.
So, what is it that you’d like to do? Perhaps you painted during your college years and have thought about picking it back up. Carpe diem. Seize the now. Right away. Go buy an easel and paints. Sit down in your workroom or studio. Start. Go outside, into nature, find some beautiful spot, and capture it on a canvas, with oil, pastels, watercolor. Don’t worry if it’s not great. It’s you, expressing what you see.
You used to quilt but don’t anymore. If your fingers still work, why not? I knew an older woman from Texas who made marvelous vests out of thrown-away neckties. She gave them as gifts. They were one-of-a-kind, lovingly made, and made people think of her.
At the Open Mic I host, one of our regular performers is 81 years old. People love hearing him sing and tell his humorous, wise stories.
Or maybe you want to teach young people, or do woodworking, or write a journal, or compile a history of all those family stories that otherwise will be forever lost.
Be bold. Dive in.
You can share this with people. It will inspire them. And it will make you feel eternally young. Guaranteed.
I’ll leave the last word to American author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.:
“Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.”
William Routhier lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. He writes fiction, poetry, essays, journalism, and children’s stories. He has been published in the New Hampshire Magazine, Salem Gazette, Atherton Review, Choeofpleirn Press, InterText Magazine, Shampoo, Light Magazine, atelier, Happy Magazine, Living Buddhism, Substack and others.
Here are articles offering suggestions on being creative and setting goals:
Everyone is born creative. Over time, many of us are ambushed by a set of critical gremlins who want us to believe that we don’t have the talent or capacity to do what we love. Self-judgment, comparison, and competition form a wicked trio that squashes our innate joy in expressing ourselves creatively. Get tips from contributor Sally Fox on how to express yourself creativity in “Express More of You Creatively? Yes, You Can!”
So, you want to write a memoir. Where do you start? Start in the middle. Start with something that tickles your fancy. Learn more in Writing Your Life Story? “It’s OK to Start in the Middle” by Frances Dayee.
Learn and perform music as passionate amateurs—even if you’ve never plunked a piano or strummed a guitar but would love to try. In “Make Your Own Kind of Music,” we offer local Seattle area programs that will help you get back to speed, pick up a musical skill for the first time, or just meet some new friends to jam with.