Short post on a topic I have been thinking about recently: time passing and how to make the most of it.

I am in my thirties and I rarely think about the fact that my time to explore, enjoy life etc is limited. I am priviledged in many ways, I am healthy and I feel young, so I don’t truly always live every day as if it were the last.

Lately, however, I have started seeing things with a different perspective: if, for example, I go on one week-long holiday a year and I assume I will live to 80 (although I probably won’t go on holidays then, but who knows what life will look like), I have less than 50 holidays left. Although 50 is a huge number, it is still finite and makes me want to choose carefully what I do with my time off.

The same goes for the people I know: it feels like there will always be more time with them, but friends and family might move abroad or life happens and all of a sudden you regret not having done more with them. Fortunately many times this is happening because of a positive life event, but it can still be disruptive and unforseen.

Although the concept of “memento mori”, i.e. “remember you will die” is usually seen as pessimistic and depressing because it can equate to “life is short”, I find it can inspire to be bold and do more exciting things, think carefully about how you spend your time and be grateful for the opportunities you have.

I must credit Tim Urban: I read this great post by Wait But Why years ago, and it has probably been brewing in the back of my head since – highly recommend it.

I have heard that the book Four Thousand Weeks is on this topic, I will read it and I will link to my review here.