Living Each Day As Richly as We Can Whether or Not It’s Our Last

To live each day as if it were our last really comes down to just living our regular lives but doing so with our eyes open and our hearts grateful.

I’ve been fascinated by the sometimes overused concept of living each day as if it were our last. While I completely understand the principles trying to be taught by that way of thinking, I think in practice, it’s not only any unrealistic expectation for most of us who will wake up tomorrow and have to face the new challenges and embrace the new opportunities that that day will present us with, but it also can lead to us setting astronomical expectations on ourselves to achieve that no human could ever meet.

Let’s look at it in a practical sense. If we really believed this were our last day on Earth, it would be very natural to try to squeeze every second of every experience and do extravagant things that, if we ended up being wrong about our fate, we very well might end up regretting in some respects. I know when I’ve really enjoyed a family get together or a wonderful book or concert that goes very late into the evening, I am bound to feel groggy and less thrilled about things in the morning.

And that’s the challenge isn’t it? Sometimes we think that living fully means that we inevitably must do more and do big audacious things that forever mark the day. But perhaps there are other ways of fully embracing the day we have to live right now. Maybe instead of taking that skydiving trip or buying friends and family expensive gifts or climbing that mountain that we know haven’t really trained up to yet and very likely will result in a painful experience, we could simply try to be more present in the good things that are already happening in our lives.

To live each day as if it were our last really comes down to just living our regular lives but doing so with our eyes open and our hearts grateful. We live in a remarkable time period. I am very aware of so many of the incredibly sad and scary things that are going on around the world, but if we think about how things were even a century ago: many of us have access to opportunities, resources, health, and experiences that even kings would have envied. So if we have food to eat, let’s try to really taste it. If we have fifteen minutes to spare to take a stroll around the block, let’s notice the sunlight warming our face and pick up on the melody of a bird. And if we are bless to interact with a friend or a family member or a coworker or a neighbor, let’s take it for the astounding gift it really is that two people can connect with a strengthening bond of friendship.