Having battled with social anxiety disorder and depression for most of my life, I’ve spent my fair share of time navigating the treacherous maze in my head. Sometimes I remain trapped until the maze fades away. Other times, I come up with some new coping mechanism that helps me see the world in a different light.
A couple of months ago, this came up: Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
At first, it had seemed such a cliché sentence. But the more I ruminated on it, the more I got from it.
It’s such a simple sentence, but it makes a strong mantra because of what it represents. It helps us look at life from another angle. A fresh angle.
If you need a little pick-me-up today, I think this post may just be what you need.
Hello there, today is the first day of the rest of your life
1. But first, memento mori is key
What does memento mori mean?
Memento mori means “remember you must die“. It’s thought to originate from an ancient Roman tradition, but it’s been used throughout history by various wise folks as fuel for life.
If you’re a Game of Thrones fan, you may prefer the phrase “valar morghulis“, which means “all men must die” in High Valyrian.
Yes, before you even think about the fact that today is the first day of the rest of your life, I want you to remember that all men must die.
It’s not about fear or pessimism. It’s a reminder that our time on earth is limited. The problem with being alive is we think we’ll always wake up tomorrow. The truth is, there’ll come a day when we don’t get a tomorrow.
Knowing that today is the first day of the rest of your life does nothing if you don’t acknowledge that you don’t know when the end is.
By keeping memento mori close to our hearts, we remember that life is precious. That we ought to make the most of every day we have. Don’t dwell on the small things, don’t forget the important things.
Because today is the first day of the rest of your life. Tomorrow is not a certainty.
2. You don’t know how much time you have left
The rest of anyone’s life is an unknown length of time. Though the majority of us would wake up tomorrow (thankfully. And I wish you a long and happy life), no one knows how much time we have left.
I feel like I have another 30 years, but I may only have another 3 weeks. No one knows. Yet how we approach life if we only have three weeks left versus how we approach life if we have 30 years is vastly different.
If I only had three weeks. I’ll start saying my goodbyes. Knowing me, I’ll be writing friends and families letters, and leaving them little gifts. I may book a trip to a dark-sky place to see the milky way and camp under thousands of stars. Then I’ll travel home with my partner to say goodbye to my parents.
Ugh. Just thinking about that makes me a little emotional.
But because I think I have 30 years, I neglect a lot of things. I don’t call my parents enough, and I often forget to text my friends. Luckily for me though, my mental issues left me trapped enough that I’m hyper-focused on crafting a life that’s true to myself.
- Read about why you should live on your own terms
If I was well enough to have a normal life, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be thinking about my life as much. I’ll be so tired from commuting and working that I’ll forget to think about things like memento mori. Or so in my comfort zone, I forget to think about living.
But here I am, trying to make YOU think about things like that. We don’t know how much time we have left, so make the most of it.
3. “Today” is a new beginning
Life is tedious.
Most of us are stuck in an endless cycle of chores and responsibilities. The days and weeks bleed into one another. So we look forward to vacations and celebrations, eager to break the monotony. Then we start the cycle again.
Take a year for example. We work through most of it, then comes the holiday season where we let everything slide a little. We spend more than we should, forget about work for a while, and eat and drink a little too much.
As the year ends and another begins, we think about resolutions because the new year signifies a new beginning. We feel hopeful, we work on our resolutions for a week or two, then the dreary duties (warning: endless days ahead) take over and the motivation fades away.
Yet when a new year comes around, we come up with resolutions again, because beginnings make us hopeful. Maybe this year will be different.
But why wait for the first days of a new year for hope and change when every day is a new beginning?
Today is the first day of the rest of your life!
Think about it, each day is very much like a year. We wake up, get ready for our day, complete our tasks for the day, then wind down at the end of it. Then the day ends as we fall asleep.
Each day that we wake up to is a new beginning.
Why not end and start each day like you would a year? What if we thought about our hopes and dreams for tomorrow before we sleep, then woke up trying to move a little closer to those hopes and dreams?
Instead of getting a fresh and fleeting burst of motivation once a year, we now get 365 fresh starts.
Granted, most days will end with unfulfilled resolutions, but you’ll get closer to your goals if you worked on it 365 times a year than once a year for two weeks.
4. “Today” is a second chance
If you get to live your life all over again, what would you do differently?
We all have regrets in our lives. We regret things we said, things we didn’t say. Things we did, things we didn’t do. We all make mistakes.
We can’t start over, but there is so much more we can do. Instead of dwelling on what could’ve been, we should focus on what we can create with what time and resources we have.
For the most part, it’s never too late to start. Do you wish you lived differently? Think about how you can make your life a little more to your liking moving on.
If you made a mistake, every day represents a second chance to right the mistake.
If there’s something you wish you’d said, maybe today is the day to say it.
Every day that we get is a second chance to live our life the way we want to. But that’s not all.
So, today is the first day of the rest of your life. What do you want this life to be like?
Do you want it to be bogged down with emotional baggage and regrets? Do you want to fret over trivial things?
Each day is also a second chance to let go of what didn’t serve you. Let go of hate, unpleasant memories, toxic relationships, and inadequacies. Let it all go.
5. Tomorrow, you get to start again
Now, it’s not easy to do the things we say we want to do. We all have obstacles. For some it’s the lack of resources, for others, it’s commitment and duties. But most often of all, the obstacle is ourselves, or fear.
Truly living life is scary. That’s why most of us choose to stay where we are even if we’re unhappy. I call this state “existing”. It’s safe and predictable.
Change, on the other hand, is scary and uncertain. Whether it’s mending relationship fences or rebuilding your life, most of us have something we want to do in our lives. And it takes time to do these things.
No matter how you go about it, remember this. Don’t be too hard on yourself
Today is the first day of the rest of your life, not the last day. Yes, you don’t know how much time you have left – all the more reason to not be too hard on yourself. Right?
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you can’t always complete your to-do list. But you get to start again tomorrow. The point of this whole exercise is to know that you can’t afford not to live consciously. Not to make you rush through your life.
The point is to make life count.
In conclusion
- Memento mori: Remember we will die
- We don’t know how much time we have left, so let’s not take life for granted
- We’re gifted with a new beginning every time we wake
- A second chance to begin again – if we choose to
- And if today didn’t go our way, we can always try again tomorrow
Today is the first day of the rest of your life. From here on out, how would you like to live it?
If you’ve enjoyed this article and found it to be useful, remember to share it with your loved ones! Thank you for reading!
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