The Rocking Chair Test

 I have something shocking to tell you. Are you sitting down? Brace yourself Are you ready? Here goes.

I didn’t wash my car last month.

I sn’t that awful?  What’s worse is this: I don’t intend to wash it this month either. Isn’t that terrible?

Washing my car is one of the things I don’t do because it doesn’t pass my rocking chair test. When I’m an old man sitting in my rocking chair looking back on my life, I’m not going to be saying “Doggone I wish I’d spent more time washing my car. If I had only scrubbed those whitewalls a little more often, I could have had a really happy life”

Applying my rocking chair test prevents me from doing a host of wasteful things from dusting furniture to holding a grudge to eating spinach. It also keeps me from doing some really stupid things. I know I’m not going to be sitting in my rocking chair saying “I wish I’d snorted more coke”

Of course it’s not always that simple. Take television. I’m not likely to be sitting in my rocking chair saying. “I wish I had watched more television.” On the other hand, I might be saying “I wish I had relaxed more and watching television is a form of relaxation.

Even trickier is reading. Will I be sitting in my rocking chair wishing I had read more? Or will I wish I had spent less time reading and more time experiencing things firsthand? Tough call.

The best thing my rocking chair test does is to remind me that it’s better to do than to own. I might be sitting in my rocking chair wishing I had gone to more ball games, see more shows, taken more trips. It’s not likely I’ll be sitting there wishing I had bought a bigger house or a fancier car.

I’ve made this essay very personal because the rocking chair test is personal. Things that would pass my rocking chair test would flunk yours and vice versa. But there’s one thing I suspect is true for all of us.

That rocking chair is closer than we think.