Ask HN: Is Life Short?

Life is both short and long. At 21 you’ll have so many opportunities to do your own thing going forward that it’s sort of silly for you to worry about it now, on the flip side, now is probably also going to be the time you have the least to lose.<p>I would normally advice you to go with what you feel is right for you, but right now, I’m personally going to be riding out the next few years as safe as possible. I think the world economy is in for its bumpiest ride in our lifetime. So unless the thing you plan on selling thrives in a market with a broken global supply chain, war in Europe, real climate impact, food shortages, political unrest and recession (and some things will thrive, they always do) then being a startup the next few years will probably be more of a challenge than it’s been for the past few decades.

Life is one hour a day and one week per month and one year per lifetime shorter than you need. Keep pedalling because you can back to a way of bigger risks later as well. And you will never consider your salary good when you find a woman.

If I was you, I&#x27;d save enough to go to a cheaper country and slowly work on my idea.<p>In fact, I&#x27;m thinking of doing that next year. My job isn&#x27;t hard by any means, but I cannot focus on my other projects while I&#x27;m working.<p>I&#x27;m only in my 30s, but I will say the biggest tip I can give to any young person is don&#x27;t let any other person direct your life. Case in point, I knew a girl once whose mother tried to push her into an arranged marriage.<p>She had to estrange herself for a bit.<p>If you like your job, stick with it I guess.<p>But if you really want to move abroad, do that now. The moment you get settled down, or even get into a real relationship. This gets much harder.<p>And finally you&#x27;re going to make a bunch of mistakes, learn to forgive yourself when you do. And stay away from people who are going to harp on your mistakes and try to pick on you.

Life is too short. 40 years ahead seems like a very long time. Looking back at 40 years will be like the closing and opening of your eyes. Make the best of it before it&#x27;s too late. Take smart chances now. But have a plan to execute. Don&#x27;t do it blindly.

No, not for most people.<p>When I was your age I couldn&#x27;t imagine my current self, in my 50&#x27;s, sick and broke so I did nothing to prepare for the future.<p>If you&#x27;re making as much money as you say, by living frugally and making good low risk investments you should be able to save enough money to do whatever you want by the time you&#x27;re in your 30&#x27;s.<p>That&#x27;s what I would do if I had it to do over.<p>Note also that if you&#x27;re like most people you can probably find a way to live on much less than what you&#x27;re currently spending.<p>Of course there are no guarantees in life, you could die tomorrow.

If you want to shoot for big stuff, it will never be as safe as right now. Assuming you have no spouse or children, you should be able to drop your living expenses to near zero in a pinch, should things go poorly. So it&#x27;s almost all upward potential.<p>Having said that, you might want to build your business after hours until it&#x27;s off the ground. Gives you lots of time to not be dependent on it so you&#x27;re not getting desperate while trying to sell.

Measure your life in decades.<p>Do your future self favors. Don’t spend, lock it up.<p>Keep building and growing, be ambitious, yet recognize there is a cycle and you will burn out.<p>You will be at your prime when you are 35 (if you take proper care of yourself.) you will be old some time after 50, and probably dead (or not much better off) by 100.<p>The problem most have (unaware to themselves) is not that they don’t live long enough, it is that they are a waste of what life they have.

You might increase your life expectancy by following the Mediterranean diet. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edition.cnn.com&#x2F;2022&#x2F;01&#x2F;04&#x2F;health&#x2F;mediterranean-diet-2022-best-diet-wellness&#x2F;index.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;edition.cnn.com&#x2F;2022&#x2F;01&#x2F;04&#x2F;health&#x2F;mediterranean-diet...</a>

“Life is short. And life is long. But not in that order.”<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;158230192655&#x2F;life-is-short-and-life-is-long-but-not-in-that" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com&#x2F;post&#x2F;158230192655...</a>

If you stay on the path now, your variance is very small. You&#x27;ll be in more control on where your life ends up. This means you will be relatively safe, but also no surprises.<p>It&#x27;s really up to you whether &quot;no surprises&quot; is a good or bad thing.

Would you actually enjoy running such a company? Even if is&#x27;s a success, a lot of the activities involved are fairly stressful, and not much fun.

Life is between breaths. If you can always keep that to mind, whenever it ends, you have lived long enough..

I&#x27;m almost 40 and figured I wasted most of the time.