Milestones…

Have you ever wondered what milestones you’ve surpassed in your lifetime?  For most of us we don’t account for many of these, but over the last couple of years I’ve been more than curious…

For example, until the introduction of the Fitbit and Apple Watch I really didn’t pay attention to how far I’d walked or ran.  However, and maybe it’s a personal flaw but I started paying attention.

Fortunately, I haven’t become obsessed with it, but have been quietly paying attention to it from time to time over the years.

As an example, with all of the measuring over the last six years I recently surpassed walking/running the entire length of the Trans Siberian Railway that links Vladivostok in the east with Moscow in the west.

That’s a whopping 9,288 km (5,771 miles) and the longest rail link in the world…

Even my twelve days in Toronto I walked over 200 km (120 miles), so it’s no wonder I have sore feet!

This isn’t meant to be boastful, in fact far from it.

What I find most intriguing about this milestone is, if this is what I’ve done in the past six years how does that equate with the remainder of my life?

I mean, have I walked around the earth’s circumference?

We’ll never know for sure, but I’d say that its quite likely the case.

A milestone I’m very proud of is this weekly essay.

Since its inception in October 2011 I think I’ve only missed publishing twice in these past thirteen years.(674 posts in total if I account for the two weeks missed).

Not too shabby for someone who began this journey with the intent of writing a story a week for my kids and to give them an idea of who I was, my thoughts on life and some of my most memorable childhood and family stories.

Personally, this milestone continues to give me enjoyment as it challenges me to create something every week.  Fortunately for me I haven’t had too many issues when developing my weekly stories.

Perhaps it’s my inherent curiosity that fuels my ability to create something every week.

You’d also be right in thinking that in the grand scheme of things these milestone are specific to me and really of interest only to me.   True!

The other milestone, or should I say inquisitiveness is the number of times I’ve circled the earth in my extensive travels.

If I take it on air miles alone my closest guess would be in the vicinity of about three million give or take a 100,000.

With Air Canada alone I’m at about 1.7 M miles, and that doesn’t account for the vast number of flights I’ve taken globally with other airlines over the course of my life.

Now to circumnavigate the earth it’s approximately 40,075 km (24,901 miles).  So, if I extrapolate that into three million it comes out to 120.47 times around the earth.

Wow!   That is a lot no question…

When I was backpacking back in my early 20’s I met an elderly Belgian gentleman on a train from Oslo in Norway to Stockholm in Sweden and we got talking about life.

For much of his career he had been a diamond trader and had travelled extensively around the world for his work.

The thing that stuck with me was that he always travelled so that he didn’t lose time irrespective of the destination.

This means that if he was in Australia and departed on Friday 7th of June, travelled for 24 hours (crossing the international date line) he would arrive in New York on Friday June 7th.

His reasoning was that at the end of his life he had gained a significant number of days that otherwise he wouldn’t have lived.

Certainly, an interesting perspective…

I remember it was an eye-opening conversation at the time as it made me think about how others looked at life and what is important to them.

For him personally, gaining these extra days was an important thing in his life and I’m sure he kept a careful count.

Strangely, that conversation and how it changed the way I looked at travel reverberates to this day.

Clearly, not all milestones are created equally, nor do they mean much to others but I find it fascinating on a personal level.

However, it does the beg the question of thinking about your own personal milestones.  Each of us have them but have you ever taken a moment to reflect on yours?

Perhaps I’m one of the few that like to reflect and think about these little milestones, but I suppose that is the important message in this week’s essay.

Our uniqueness is what sets us apart from one another.  Milestones help you track your life in a way that is unique to you.

Just take a moment to think about your life and how everything in it is unique. No one has ever lived this life before.  Never had the same experiences in the same context, nor have they had the relationships or travelled where you have.

It’s never happened before exactly like it’s happening with you right now.

Now that is distinctive and definitely food for thought…

Until next week

Ciao!