Life Rings by Self

Studies have shown that the stress associated with particular negative events like divorce, moving, unemployment, big financial loss, major illness/death of a loved one, can have an impact on life longevity. I figured by the same token, positive events like marriage, securing a good career opportunity, big financial gain, enjoying a big vacation, achieving a milestone (e.g., graduation) can increase years of life. In this map of time, Year 1 of my life begins with a ring width reflecting "typical conditions," meaning no significant negative or positive events occurred. The width of all other rings either increases (with significant positive events) or decreases (with significant negative events). The dashed white ring shows how long my life would have been if I had stayed at the status quo for 41 years. Not scientific by any means but this tells me that generally the positive events in my life have outweighed the bad ones, which is why my tree/life has grown beyond the white line.