Turning 47 - with 38 Summers left in life.
Suddenly it’s not only the leaves that are starting to wilt.
I love perusing the Australian Bureau of Statistics as a thing. I know it’s not everyone’s escapism cup of tea, but I relish in turning data into information . Thats how I discovered years ago that we were on track to this financial ‘hyper hyper’ bubble. (Thats totally another post another day)
So this week I learnt that the average age a woman dies in Australia is 85.4.
That means, with my 47 birthday tomorrow… I have statistically roughly 38 summers left in life. With the last 8 or so years at the end being physically too ‘crusty’ - Then it’s probably more like 30 ‘good ones’. ……Gawd.
But 2 decades ago the average was 5 years less.. so adjusting the numbers with that trodjectpry…means I may actually have an additional 10 years roughly up my sleeve - and kick on to ripe age of 95.4.
Making that roughly 40 ‘crusty-less’ summers left to have.Riveting stuff.
But then I looked at specific Tasmanian statistics, and found we are below average. Great.
ACT is the place to be in Australia if you want to clock up a couple of more years.
Sure, but I don’t want to move to the ACT for that or any reason frankly.
So living in this state turns out I’m a whole year deader earlier than the national average. Super Great.
So what are people doing to live longer? So I went off into a deep dive to see what other countries are better than us. Turns out we aren’t actually doing too badly in Australia.
In the ‘living olympics’ we are ranking in at 5th in the Ladies;
Monaco
Japan
Korea
Malta
Australia
Switzerland
New Zealand
And interestingly that the men’s we are 2nd in the world. Wild. Who’d have thought…
So now i’m pondering on how Id like to spend my 30 odd summer winters, springs and autumn left - making sure that they are ‘well spent’ ones.
So firstly, I’m getting married at the end of the year to my girlfriend Sarah. I know thats the top of my list -as like to spend all my remaining summers with her. Tick.
So now it’s the rest of the ‘bucket list’. Working out what that is and how do you start. Basically it’s coming up with a Plan. Working out what makes you happy and honestly theres an entire post in just thinking about that.
But for now I’m going to spend a little time mapping out a rough plan to backfill it in with all the ‘I’d like to do this’ and start small.
Fashioning up a 25 year plan as I’m going to be 72. It sounds kinda overwhelming but it shouldn’t be - If you know where you’re going then you can aim all your decisions you are faced with around it. And it’s only a ‘rough’, organic, loose one, and we all know everything changes over time.
And even if you don’t have a brass razoo… you can still plan as it becomes the ‘path of least resistance’ when you need to make real decisions. Especially ones on the run.
You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.
So thats what I want to do and in honouring that thought this week, I started doing 10 min sketches with my morning coffee. I don’t care how great or not great they are, I just care that I’m working on to doing something about it all as one of the things Id like to do is get better at drawing.
This was day 3 - my Easter Sunday eating our own tiny chook eggs.
James Clear talks about in his book ‘Atomic Habits’ how to make things easy and achievable and habits. Thats what the 10 minutes a day does. Thats this.
Listening
Podcast on the economist.
Seasons
The ravens are stealing apples from the orchard around us and eating them in the trees along the drive. So I know they are ripe. There’s still pears galore on our orchard and I really need to get out there and get them off the tree. Mushrooms are starting to pop up up in the back forest - noticed it while the weekends Easter hunt was on… and theres last of the blackberries out struggling to stay on. The Acorn leaves are starting to litter the backyard - and the elm is shedding too. But our chooks are all laying and I’m loving getting fresh tiny eggs daily.
Cottage
Why does everything cost so much I like. This week my kitchen chap Peter came and measured things. He’s so good, I’m working on a layout but it’s the countertop that has me stuck. I really can get past my thinking of a slab of marble but that also involves a trip to Hobart and I haven’t had time lately with daily working at the Caves. We got a truck of wood delivered at the cottage, I desperately need to stack it to make it easier to park but just seeing it there makes me feel warm knowing we aren’t going to freeze this winter.
Well not freeze-ish. There’s currently no insulation in the roof. We took that out last month. No kitchen in, I ripped that out the month before and the house has one wall still off that needs to be weatherboarded and at night when you look out back at the house - it lights up like a Christmas tree with all the gaps in it. Yep looks like I’m literally going to spend this winter sitting right next to the fire. Thats the woodfire that probably half a centry old and drafty as - even in shut down. Currently youll find me tucked up in bed in thermals- watching my breath billow out infront of me. Super fun
What’s on
11th April @firstdogonthemoon has a launch on at Fullers bookstore Tickets here I’m heading up. Theres going to be chats with director Marta Dusseldorp and producer Ben Winspear. I love his work. First dog is the award winning political cartoonist for The Guardian Australia. Rather funny chap. They have a kids/adults show on at the Royal Theatre that that has become our ‘That what you did this holidays in Hobart’ event for us.
Our superheroes – a marsupial, a hybrid monotreme, and a nervous sourdough baker – unite as the Enviroteens – a planet-defending, earth-loving, ever-determined and entirely loveable pack. These three have a mighty job on their hands as they work to save the world from an army of sinister, conniving, evil and polluting villains. But can they save the whole world?
You can book tickets to that too - Theatre Tickets
Reels Workshops.
I’ve been teaching how I do my ‘Reels’ workshops for folks these last couple of months using their iPhones at Salamanca Arts centre. They have been a hoot and Ive throughly enjoyed meeting so many creative and talented people and eating nice leftovers. These are the ones that are coming up next - and you can book here after that Im going to take a wee break for winter.
28th May Melbourne at Stylist Lynda Gardeners Fitzroy
5th May Perth at The Old Courthouse Fremantle
12& 14th Hobart May Friday & Sunday. Salamanca Arts Centre
27th May Launceston with Marley & Lockyer
And theres future plans for one later in the year in Queensland and another in Sydney. Sign up to my newsletter if you want to hear about those drop first. I’ll be releasing those ones in the coming weeks.
Acruelly theres heaps more on. But I’ve bloody run out of time. I’ll try and do a follow up quicker update on what’s happening in a few days - Im making an effort to do Substack once a week - its all apart of the bucketlist plan.
Xx LJ
I’ve got 35 summers left and probably only 27 good ones. This does play on my mind because I’m running out of time to do it all.
I do wonder though, once “retirement“ comes does one then get all those things done, or do they then become null and void.
Oh Jo, great newsletter. The stats were gobsmacking. I'm 71, which means not much time left.
So a kind of a yes/no answer to your poll. No because spontaneity is great in one's 70's and yes, because a kind of dull panic sets in.
And I love the image of your house! If I was Sarah, I would tie you down in case you decide to rip anything else out!
Keep up the posts - you're a breath of the freshest, most positive air around!