Before, we did not exist. Now we exist. Tomorrow we will no longer exist.
We're on this planet for a very short time. We all know that, it's obvious, but we often forget — or simply ignore it because we're too busy.
Most of our existence is spent doing BS things. Stuff we have to do but don't really enjoy: the necessities of life, conformity, responsibilities, following the rules, and so on.
Stephen Hawking said: "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet." I take that broadly. Yes, the vast cosmos above us; but also friendship, opportunities to explore, travel, a good meal, a beautiful hike, sailing offshore, climbing a mountain, and so much more. I call all these things the BU, for Beautiful Universe.
So there's BS and BU, and everything falls into one of the two; I like it simple.
I want less BS and more BU. That's what I should be optimizing for.
Now I just need to convince my wife that this yard improvement project is total BS and that we should take the camper van and mountain bikes instead. It sometimes works.
— Tomás Ryan