Lessons learned from "The Death Clock"

A while back, my husband and I somehow got on the topic of goofy websites that predict how long you will live.  While neither one of us would ever take any predictions these sites may offer with even the slightest level of sincerity, we decided it would be fun to give it a whirl anyway.   

So my husband googled and quickly found “The Death Clock” website.  It was mildly entertaining to watch him answer the site's basic questions.

When my turn came, I was confident in thinking that, since females have a higher life expectancy, I would OBVIOUSLY beat him with a much older age of death prediction.

We both entered the exact same diagnostics with two exceptions; one was our genders, and the only other difference was that he answered truthfully that he has an “optimistic” outlook, and I could only answer honestly with, “pessimistic.”  This is thanks to my ongoing battle with chronic anxiety and tendency towards habitual negativity.

And so, without further ado, here were the results from the Death Clock’s prediction…

He and his optimism will live to 88. 

Me and my pessimism will live to 82.

Out of curiosity, I immediately ran the numbers again to see what it would say for me with an “optimistic” outlook….

It said 93 years old.

So according to the Death Clock, negativity could steal 11 years from my life.  11 YEARS!!  A whole lot could happen in those 11 years that I absolutely would not want to, and do not plan to, miss out on because of pessimism! 

Quick side note: my husband and I are the same age minus a few weeks.  We are also both extremely competitive people (this makes for interesting game nights in our home), and there is NO FREAKING WAY I’m going to let him outlive me by 6 years.  If that were to happen then he knows full well that I’m coming back to haunt his ass.

Yes, I am fully aware that The Death Clock is a stupid, kitschy online game that no one should take seriously for even half a second.  

Yet….when it comes to a simple and clear visual representation of just how damaging having a negative outlook is, well then point made, Death Clock, point made.

Anxiety leads to a fearful and pessimistic glass half empty outlook on life, with a natural inclination to look for and even assume worst case scenarios.  I like to say, “hope for the best but plan for the worst,” but the truth is I often expect the worst.  And, as The Death Clock points out, these habits have the potential to shave some significant years off of my life if I don’t get more serious about facing down some demons.

As I’ve begun studying the “Enneagram of Personality” (more about that in a future post), I’ve learned that some of my tendencies (type-A-ness, high intensity levels, perfectionism) can be attributed to my ingrained and God-given personality, and are not inherently a bad thing at all. In fact much of this should be embraced as part of what makes me uniquely me.  

But when it comes to the things (including the parts of myself) that cause unnecessary and unreasonable amounts of stress and anxiety, as well as a habit of negativity or pessimism, serious damage can be done by these things and thus, they need to be confronted.

A healthy diet/lifestyle can do SO much - I have no doubt my anxiety would be sooooooo much worse if I hadn’t taken the steps I've already taken in this area - but it can’t cure everything.  Our emotional health is just as important as our physical health, if not more so.  This needs to be an area of increased focus in my life, as I’m sure is the case for many of us.

After all my years of working so hard to achieve healing and wellness through my diet and lifestyle, I refuse to allow negative behaviors to underhandedly steal years from my life!

So what started for me last year was an increased focus on learning about and trying out new tools and therapies that are geared toward getting to the bottom of my emotional health issues (especially my anxiety) and then working to heal them.  I intend to continue increasing this focus much more over the coming year, and I look forward to sharing about what I learn.

I have to admit that I do find it pretty amusing that, as it turns out, after all the years of research, self-help books, 100’s of therapy sessions, meditations, documentaries, nature walks, etc., etc.…..it’s the friggin’ Death Clock that sparks a real effort to change my world view.  LOL.

If you're so inclined, try your own hand at The Death Clock, then go back and tweak some answers and see what happens.  It’s fun, absurd, terrifying, educational, and inspiring all at the same time!