Amy Lu's View

I wasn’t expecting to gain insight from Shania Twain. 

I don’t harbor any ill feelings about Shania Twain–I’ve just never been a big fan or paid that much attention to her. I saw her at the Brandi Carlise music festival in January 2025 and she seemed like a talented musician but not someone I would expect to be dispensing wisdom.

But recently I listened to an interview with her on the NPR “Wild Card” show and I can’t stop thinking about what I heard her say. (The emphasis here is what “I heard.” I’m not going to try to verify or accurately convey what Shania said as I’m just focusing on my experience and intepretation). 

The host, Rachel Martin, asked Shania something like “What do you want to do when you’re older? And you can define older as one week from now, or a couple of years, or whatever.” 

I think Rachel qualified the question because Shania is in her mid-60’s and is already “older” by many definitions. 

Shania answered (paraphrased by me with artistic license), “I’m going to live to be 200. I’m going to imagine that’s how it’s going to be for me. My imagination has always got me through. I don’t want to feel rushed. I want to take time to do things well and live in the moment.”

Well, I want those things, too. But don’t I need to feel rushed, at least to some extent, because I am working under a deadline? Like it or not, I only have so much time in this life, and I know more of my life is behind me than in front of me (not trying to factor in any quantum physics such as Block Theory that suggests all time is simultaneous here). Don’t I need some sense of urgency? Don’t I need to recognize the impermanence of life to appreciate it more fully? Don’t I need to reckon with the fleeting nature of the present moment to truly live in the moment?

What kind of mind-blowing heresy is Shania putting down, and I should pick it up?

I think Shania helped me realize a paradox: It IS important to recognize how brief and transitory our lives are, but constantly freaking out about that is just going to make me more distracted and less able to live in the now. 

Sometimes I need a kick in the pants and to embrace “If not now, when?” as a self-help mantra. Other times, “If not today, that’s okay” is the healthier approach. 

Shania’s advice knowingly blurs the lines between imagination and denial. That feels pretty radical. Can we live as if we have enough time for everything we want to do, even when we know we can’t? How does that change how we live? Is it worth being a little delusional for the vibe of possibility the delusion makes space for?

If I lived as if I was going to live until I was 200, it could make me more complacent. I could take things for granted even more than I already do. Or, I could chill out a bit. I could be more patient with others and myself. And I could be bolder if I thought “Hey, I have time to tackle this or to recover from it if this endeavor goes badly.”

I’d like to be braver and more relaxed, but I’m not wishing I had more time to achieve any grand goals or accomplishments. I’m basically comfortable with the skill levels I’ve attained. (I’ve let go of the idea that my domestic prowess will ever surpass what I had as a college student. I don’t expect to ever have matching towels.) I mostly just want to keep doing all the goofy inconsequential things I do every day and week and month. Maybe I’ll get slightly better at them (slightly less nervous at open mic) but just to keep doing them would be a blessing. I want to finish all the TV series I’ve got on my personal wish list and eat at all the restaurants I’ve planned to but never quite made it to. 

Of course I want to keep spending time with my friends and family and pets. Okay, I want to get better at that–have more heart to heart conversations, and silly times, and times where we reminisce and dream. 

I want more times when we fully embrace that we’re all so heart-breakingly ephemeral and times we pretend that we’re all going to live to 200.