Over the New Year’s weekend, I was reading a book The Last Policeman by Ben Winters.

 

It’s a police detective sci-fi novel. The police detective stuff has been done frequently, and done well. Ben Winters poses the scenario:

 

What if the police detective were trying to be a detective which a life-ending asteroid hurtling toward earth?

 

Slowly.

 

It will take about a year to get there.

 

So what does everyone do when they know this life (and that would be all human life) ending asteroid is coming?

 

I’ve heard the maxim, “live every day like it’s your last.”

 

Well, that’s nonsense. If this were my last day, You cannot reasonably do that. If this were my last day on earth, I certainly wouldn’t mow the lawn.

 

Or go to work.

 

But if it were my last year?

 

That’s a bigger scope. In this novel, anyone with means is considering leaving their jobs and going “bucket list.”

 

Which is all fine, but then how do basic needs get met?

 

Cell phone coverage gets a lot spottier when the people maintaining the lines are less motivated. And not even there.

 

Of course, reading about this story, I think about it. What would it be?

 

How could I really decide what I would choose to do with a consequenceless year?

 

What do I really like best?

 

I did not miss the irony that I was reading this book over the new year. Which is also my birthday.

 

What is it? What is the thing?

Cell phone coverage gets a lot spottier when the people maintaining the lines are less motivated. And not even there.

Of course, reading about this story, I think about it. What would it be?

How could I really decide what I would choose to do with a consequenceless year?

What do I really like best?

I did not miss the irony that I was reading this book over the new year. Which is also my birthday.

What is it? What is the thing?

One thing I know for sure is it’s not one thing.

It takes a bunch of different things to make a life satisfying and balanced

Like the commercial “Part of this balanced breakfast”

It takes the mind blowing and the mundane to make life work.

And it takes trying and tasting and moving on. Some of the things I loved once are not a good fit anymore.

And some of them I’ll never leave behind.

It’d fun to think about—what would I do if it were really the things I like best?