Daily story, October 16, 2024

I heard about it on a podcast. You measure out fifteen grams of sunflower seeds for every year you expect to live, and you put them in a jar. That gives you roughly the days you have left. It’s not too accurate, but hey, life is unpredictable too. In another jar, you measure out fifteen grams of sunflower seeds for every day you’ve lived already. And then each morning, you move a seed from the first jar to the second jar, and in this way you become aware of how your days are passing.

I got a few months in, and it felt like it was really working. I’d never got so much done. And then I slipped on the spilled washing-up water while carrying the jars across the kitchen. I lay there on the floor, feeling the seeds under my shoulders and on my fingertips and in my hair. The first jar had a little handful left. I poured them into my mouth. They were just beginning to turn rancid.