A Brief Version of Time <--Hyperlink (too lazy to make it obvious this is a hyperlink)

In high school, I was a little fixated on living forever—part fascination/ambition, part fear. Naturally, stories related to this were interesting to me. We read one in AP lit that really made me think back then, A Brief Version of Time (linked above for those interested). I always focused on the immortality part, and which camp of people I'd belong to in this scenario: the Nows or Laters. In my analysis, I wrote that I'd like to believe I'd be a Now because I wanted to experience as much as I could, but that it's more likely I'd have been a Later since I procrastinate when I know I have time (granted I didn't have adderall then lol). While I think that's still an important aspect to the story, I realized it's more relevant to reality than I originally thought. Funny enough, I realized this while watching The Bear season 3 a while back (and am finally writing about it wooh)!

I saw and envied how good Carmy was at cooking, and it was a skill I wished I had. At the same time, I recognized how much effort, dedication, and sacrifice you have to make to develop a skill to that point, sometimes to the detriment of your health (which was clearly the case for poor ol Carm). Obviously, this doesn't just apply to cooking. It was actually a large part of my decision to not pursue medicine/research. Luckily, I had Zach to be somewhat of a guinea pig for me too, but also when I was in NC and saw my bosses who specialized in one niche area for the past 12+ years of their lives—it just kinda dawned on me that I'd rather experience more things in life at a surface/moderate level than one or two things at an extreme level. Watching The Bear and revisiting the short story made me once again reflect on this kind of decision. While yes I absolutely want to be the best I can be at everything/know everything, it's just not really feasible—life's a constant balance and choice of what you want to spend your time/energy on. The fulfillment you get from depth vs breadth and variety.

And that's the lens I think A Brief Version of Time should actually be looked at through. The Immortality aspect can be ignored entirely. What ratio of Nows and Laters will give you the most fulfillment from your life? Because this balancing act very much is a choice whether you make it consciously or not. You can spend your many years becoming an expert in a few areas or constantly go-go-going to accomplish/experience as much as possible or you can relax and take the time to enjoy the freedom in life to choose where your energy might be focused next. Carmy ignoring everything else besides cooking eventually led to him missing out on other things in his life. But luckily (SPOILER: as season 4 showed), this choice, this balance of Nows and Laters, can be changed any time throughout your long (albeit not infinite) life. That's the takeway I get now from this thought-provoking and evolving story. Feel free to let me know your thoughts on it too though!