Comment by BeetleB
2 months ago
I have a love/hate relationship with deathbed advice.
I still go around quoting: No one at their deathbed says "Man, I wish I had spent more time at the office!"
On the flip side, I've noticed the older one is, the longer their list is of "things that don't matter." (e.g. Don't focus so much on wealth, career, etc). It was years before I realized that I've encountered very old people who say "None of it matters", and that perhaps they are not giving sage advice, but are merely changing preferences as they age.
I’m not deeply into Jung, but he has a concept around phases of life that rings true to me. It’s a good and proper (and somewhat inevitable) to move though these phases as you age; there’s not a lot of point as a 20yo trying to implement the advice/preferences of what you imagine your 80yo self would want; in a very real sense you’re completely different people.