Should I Live Like This is My Last Day to Live?

I wanna die with a dozen unfinished projects and ideas. Have you ever heard that you should live every day like it was your last?

I don’t think that’s good advice. Here’s why. 

If today was my last day, there are definitely a lot of things I would do. A lot of lasts. There are also a lot of things I wouldn’t do. Mostly firsts.  I wouldn’t start a new journey, or make a new friend. I wouldn’t start reading a book, or write the first chapter of my novel. I wouldn’t plan a cross country trip, or sleep in. I wouldn’t make that career change I’d been thinking about.  I wouldn’t do anything that might take time to see results. We can’t live every day like it is our last, because there is a really small list of things we would do if it was, and we’d have to do those same things every day, since every day might be the last day. That’s why I think it’s bad advice. 

I know that the idea behind the advice is to live with intensity. I can agree with that. Living like today is my last day won’t accomplish that goal.

Here’s the reality. I am going to die, and I don’t know when that’s going to happen. Since I don’t, and you probably don’t either, I recommend living intentionally, and taking steps to prepare for the future you hope to see. I recommend taking each moment as it comes and behaving as the moment requires. If that means leaving my kids at home while I go to work, or breaking away from a hug because the dog is going to pee on the floor if I don’t take him out immediately, then that’s what I’m going to do. 

I have no problem acknowledging I will die one day. What I can’t do is function as if every day might be that day.  I need to be able to start something today that won’t be finished until tomorrow, or next week, or next year. I know I will die, but I’m not thinking about it every day. So, instead of living each day like it is my last, I want to live each day like it’s a gift, an opportunity, a chance to do something meaningful. I hope you will to.

Go ahead and make that new friend. Crack open that new book. Write the first chapter in your novel. Start planning that cross country trip. Make that career change. Do the normal stuff to. Take a walk. Take a nap. Watch a movie. Walk the dog.  Have dinner with your family. Grab a second helping of pie. Let the phone go to voicemail. Live. 

If  you are reading this, and you know that today is your last day, then please follow the advice in the first line of this post. For the rest of us, I recommend we live intentionally, as each moment requires; with our feet in the present, and our eyes on the future. 

Death isn’t something to fear, so go live your life. Thoreau once said, “Don't be afraid that your life will end, be afraid that it will never begin! If you live each day like it will be your last, you will never begin. And there is so much to attempt! 

Let’s get started!