There are eighty-six thousand four hundred seconds in a day. How do you spend your seconds? Every morning some of us are given the gift to wake up and experience another day while some of us don’t receive that opportunity. It’s sad, but true fact of life. No one is given the guarantee of waking up the next morning which is why each day should be spent as if it’s our last. What is something you’ve always wanted to do but were too afraid? Do it. Who is someone you’ve always wanted to express your feelings toward but were scared of rejection? Tell them anyway. If today was your last day, would you be satisfied with everything you’ve done, or would you regret that one thing you were too apprehensive to say or do?
I have done various things in my life that I both regret and enjoyed, but lately, I’ve come to think about the things I would do differently if given the chance. How I would change my life if someone told me I had one day to make it the best. I would get all the tattoos I’ve ever wanted.They are quite possibly the most beautiful form of art, and I can’t imagine leaving this world without having some on my body. I would man up and tell the guy I’m into that I really like him instead of hiding behind the friend card. Leaving this world without him ever knowing how I felt would suck. I would tell the guy who bullied me back in middle school that he’s a dick to his face since I was too scared to do so as a kid. I always did regret not giving him a piece of my mind back in the day.
My friends had similar responses when posed the question of what to do on your last day. One said she would lose her V-card to the guy she likes at the moment. That is something she has kept very close to her, but leaving the world a virgin is something she does not want. Another girl I know said that she would spend her last seconds shoving as much food into her mouth as possible. When you won’t have the calories the next day might as well eat as many of them as you want. A few of them mentioned spending time with friends and family. Others would rather spend their time alone possibly on a nude beach in Spain. There are endless things I and my friends would do if told we only had one day to do it. The question is, what’s stopping us?
The other day at a concert, I was talking to this girl I had met a few weeks previous. She’s twenty-one and was drinking a beer she ordered from the bar. I kept saying how jealous I was. I had explained how I couldn’t wait to be twenty-one, so that I could go out and drink with friends at bars, concerts, etc. She said something to me that night that really made me think. She said, “You’re time will come eventually. Don’t wish your life away.” That hit me because I feel like that is something we all do. We don’t focus on the present and instead rely on good things to happen in the future. There is no guarantee that tomorrow will happen or the next day or the day after that. All we have is right now. This moment. These seconds.
All those things you wish you could do or say... do them, say them, experience them. You have eighty-six thousand four hundred seconds to make as many memories as you can before your day is up and the clock strikes midnight. Don’t waste any of them wishing away what could be done in the present.
