So... What does it make me if I spend my life writing, and every 11 years or so - becoming good at something? Does it mean that I'm not dying, or that I'm dying, in the sense of the comic strip?
I think the lifetimes in the way that the comic presents them is a bundling of opportunity and your own sense of self: so you can spend your life writing, but as you make choices and move through life you will pass through different lifetimes / phases / eras / turning points where what you do changes how you see yourself. I think the main takeaway from the comic is to look at your past, present and future selves as wholly different individuals, each with their own personalities, careers, hobbies. What you do with that is up to you, either dig in or let go.
This might be a dangerous path: if you believe that in the future you'll be strong enough to quit this bad habit and start this good one, but do nothing in the present to achieve it, you're screwing yourself into a hole too small for you to fit.I think the main takeaway from the comic is to look at your past, present and future selves as wholly different individuals
I see it from a different perspective: To make that vision of future self come true, present self must instigate the changes necessary, one of which may be letting go of the past. The comic presenting these as lives I think makes it more definitive and yet helps you to detach from it somewhat. Consider it like this: a very close friend wants to become a carer, for the elderly or disabled; what would you as a person do to facilitate that? What actions must they take that you can directly help or influence? You have a few years to help this person so try and answer this for both the short and long term. Would you be willing or able to give up personal time to help them? What would happen if you didn't? If your friend needs to quit a bad habit, would you take the same steps as them to help support them?
The "friend" is your future self, your present self can choose to help your future self or not; to put it into a common frame of reference, if you'd help your friend to achieve something, what's stopping you from helping your future self do the same? The comic doesn't directly reference this, just simply saying "These are your lifetimes. USE THEM." so all of this is just my interpretation of it, but it seems logical to me that once you start thinking about your life as a series of lives (or different selves) you can plan accordingly. Feel free to disagree, if you interpret it differently then I would love to hear your perspective. :)