What is important to me is what I do with my time on this tiny planet. The question is, “what should I do?” I answered that question a few years ago and have enjoyed my answer since. It all starts with my definition of our lives. I cannot define life itself, I do not believe anyone can, but our lives on this planet can be defined. Our lives are collections of experiences, choices, and actions. That’s it. Choices and actions are obvious. Experiences include things like emotions, love, thoughts, sensory input, etc. Can you think of anything in our lives that is not an experience, choice, or action? I can’t.
What is the point of defining life in such simple and general terms? It shows that the only things we can gain from this life are the memories of our experiences and possibly spiritual salvation or other spiritual benefits if you are religious. Given that our choices and actions and the choices and actions of the people around us shape our experiences, we must consider our choices well; they define our lives.
My own memories and the memories locked in the heads of the people I care about are the most important things in my life. Therefore, my purpose in life is to enhance my memories and enhance the memories belonging to other people. Given that, I decided one of the ways I can enhance my own memories is by experiencing many different adventures, hence all my experiences skydiving, SCUBA diving, traveling, exploring the woods, watching nature, etc. How I enhance the memories of the people I care about varies from person to person, but I try to help each person have a slightly better life.
By enhancing other people’s experiences, we expand the power and duration of our life’s influence on this planet. I have decided to attempt to expand the direct influence of my life beyond just those people I have met and try to touch the lives of complete strangers. That’s why I built this web site, why I respond with as much help as I can to all the email I receive, and why I try to encourage people to donate more stories, photos, and videos. I am trying to encourage my visitors to experience something new. I know that I am only touching a small percentage of them, but when people write to me telling me that my site inspired them to try something new, I feel an immense joy. I know that I have helped improve the memories of someone else. Even if I had only received one email telling me about one person, I would have felt all the effort I put into this site was worth it.
