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Comment by stevenj | Hacker News Reader

>From my brother, I received a personal understanding of death, and a constant reminder to live my life as though it may end at any moment.

I'm not sure how to really ask this, but what does it mean to live your life as though it may end at any moment?

For example, does that literally mean to pursue today as if you could really be gone tomorrow? And if so, how?

Does it mean that if you really want to go sky diving you should do it soon (i.e. now)? If you've been thinking about moving to another place for a while, but just keep putting it off for semi-trivial reasons, should you just go and see what happens?

I've heard people say that they live each day as if it could be their last, but I'm not sure what that means, practically speaking.

There have been several things that I wish I'd done, looking back, but I didn't mostly out of fear.

The idea of living each day as if it could be your last has always intrigued me.

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To me, it doesn't mean go skydiving or spend all your money and go partying every day.

It means stop living in fear, and stop distracting yourself with bullshit.

Lots of people are afraid of the shame of failure, the shame of rejection, etc. If you really were going to die tomorrow, it would strip away all the fear that you have of living with this burden.

I've been through some health scares and believe me, there is nothing more sobering than being in an MRI machine looking for a brain tumor. All the day-to-day bullshit that many people worry about, like "Why didn't I get that promotion" or "I really want that car" gets stripped away pretty quick, and the things that really matter surface immediately.

I did this small exercise with a group of friends not too long ago: "What would you do if you had no fear?" A couple of people took that to heart and made some interesting, useful, decisions.

I think that is a good start to an answer to your question.

The other thing (which more often than not gets me into trouble) is "It is a moral imperative to do what you love." Do that, and the question kind of answers itself.

I find it to be a balance. In the short-term, I want everything I do to make things better for others if I were to suddenly collapse. To use Paul's example, I want to do the dishes and not leave them for someone else.

I also think it means pursuing big, important goals like fixing a broken neighborhood, writing a book, and so on. If I die in the middle of one of these projects, I probably leave small messes in neglected areas for someone to clean up, but it's worth the risk and why it's important to start as soon as possible and work quickly.

Thankfully a lot of things don't require that trade; for example, being a good dad to my children means teaching them to take care of small things and is also part of a long-term goal. There are other things like this. I think there is certainly a place for hedonistic activities like travel and skydiving, but not destructive ones like criminal activity or breaking a relationship to pursue another one.

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