During the time it will take you to read this newsletter, you’ll grow a little older and move a little closer to death. 

A depressing thought? 

Viktor Frankl didn’t think so.

I finally read his famous book, “Man’s Search for Meaning,” and it left me chewing on a lot of things. But most thought-provoking was his unique take on growing old. 

Frankl, an Austrian psychologist writing in the shadow of the horrors of the Holocaust, makes the case for what he terms “tragic optimism” by writing the following:

“People tend to overlook and forget the full granaries of the past into which they have brought the harvest of their lives: the deeds done, the loves loved, and last but not least, the sufferings they have gone through with courage and dignity. From this one may see that there is no reason to pity old people. Instead, young people should envy them. It is true they have no opportunities, no possibilities in the future. But they have more than that. Instead of possibilities in the future, they have realities in the past—the potentialities they have actualized, the meanings they have fulfilled, the values they have realized–and nothing and nobody can ever remove these assets from the past.”

I don’t know about you, but I found this to be a helpful and refreshing “reframe” on growing old. Our culture tends to idolize youthfulness and potential, while pitying the elderly and their lack of said potential—a trap I’ve fallen into at times. But as Frankel reminds us, there’s another way to think about aging.

Instead of each day bringing us closer to “the end,” Frankl invites us to think about each day as an opportunity to make fresh deposits into the archives of our lives – ”assets” which can never be withdrawn. This motivates me to make new deposits each day and honor those who have stored up a rich harvest of “deeds done” and “loves loved.” 

Interested in taking this perspective for a test drive? If so, consider the following questions:

1. What’s a good deed you are proud to have done?

2. What’s a “potentiality” you are proud to have realized?

3. What’s a suffering you are proud to have endured with dignity?

No matter what happens going forward, your answers to those questions are safely and securely deposited in the past, never to be forgotten or withdrawn. That’s an encouraging reminder for me, and I hope for you as well.

Carry on fellow travelers, we’ll talk soon.