life on a Graph sheet

I’ve spent many a good hour trying to figure out what graph best shows my life. Of course, an actual graph would be far too erratic to give an equation to, but if we’re talking a line of best fit?

I’ve pondered the trigonometric graphs, Sine and Cosine, but find them too rigid in their structure. Too perfectly formed. Each high point is too alike, and each low likewise. It is not the graph of my life.

I’ve pondered also quadratic functions.... but they lack any sense of reality, culminating in either one spectacular high, or rather devastating low. If life went that way, at least we’d know we only have to go up once we’ve hit the bottom. But it’s not the graph of my life.

I moved up to cubics, and higher powered polynomials, but none of them fit either. They always tend to infinity, or negative infinity. It’s not the graph of my life.

More recently I’ve considered reciprocal functions, finding y = 1/x to be roughly accurate. It stems off to an incredible high; mindblowingly amazing, before jumping in at the lowest point and devastating everything that is built. It then gradually, and increasingly moves back up to a stable point. A safe point in life. I could cope with that.

Of course, if that were the graph of my life, I’d be disappointed that I had no more highs to look forward to, but I could cope.

However, I think (as was inevitable really) it is impossible to summarize human life with a graph. We could model it, sure. We could try to make things fit. But they never would; there are simply too many variables in life.

And whatever we try to do, however much we try to mould ourselves to the thing we most want, life moves forward.

Time moves forward at a constant rate, and with it we must remain. Our life is nothing if not for the passing of time. So we must move forward.

No amount of wishing can change what has passed, no amount of dreaming can hold time still.

We have no control over time, it merely controls us.

So our graph will move forward.

Forward.

The rest s up to us

“Life as numerical quantities focus on expected values, graphical summaries on unexpected values.”i