Changing your perspective by changing your timeframe

The last stars will die out 120 trillion years from now (at most) followed by 10¹⁰⁶ years of just black holes. Condensed, that’s like the universe starting with 1 second of stars and then a billion billion billion billion billion billion billion years of just black holes. Stars are basically the immediate after-effects of the Big Bang. A one-second sizzle of brightness before settling into an essentially endless era of darkness. We live in that one bright second.

A few days ago I wrote: “What will your tombstone legacy be?”. This lead to a dialogue with a family member about their desire to make a long lasting difference through, for example, planting trees. That family member is both a Doctor and also parent to three amazing children, so I said to them that they would already have left an amazing legacy through the many people they have helped and through their children. Their answer noted: “well the way I look at it our kids will pass on and so will their kids but our chance today is to improve the lives of many going forward with whatever improvement we can make in the future”. To some level, that family member dismissed the impact they have every day, as well as over time in supporting their children, the next generation, feeling a need to have an impact over a greater time period.