by Mike O’Mary

The universe is about 10 billion years old. A few years ago, two astrophysicists predicted that the stars will start to die en masse in about 5 billion years, and in 20 or 30 billion years, our own sun is expected to die. After that, black holes will take over, swallowing up everything over the next 60 billion years. The universe will be totally black.

No wonder I feel like driving right by the office some mornings.

Another group of scientists recently claimed to have found “proof positive” of a massive asteroid that destroyed nearly all life on earth–including the dinosaurs–65 million years ago. Incredibly, new species began appearing only 5,000 years later, and eventually, human beings evolved. It’s nice to know that if life were wiped out tomorrow by another big asteroid, it would only be another 50 million years or so before America would once again be teeming with discount stores and fast food chains.

Hearing about the ultimate fate of the universe and the havoc that a single falling rock can cause can make it difficult to go on with your daily routine. At the same time, such scientific discoveries help put everything else in perspective. So some morning when there are no asteroids in the forecast and when the sun looks like it will shine forever, have a hot cup of coffee and ask yourself, “Why am I here?” and “What am I doing with my life?” The answers aren’t always easy to come by, but you’ve only got a few billion years and you owe it to yourself to contemplate the questions.

Mike O’Mary is founding dreamer of Dream of Things, an independent book publisher currently accepting creative nonfiction stories for anthologies on 15 topics.