Here’s a cheerful question for your morning:
How many Thanksgivings do you have left with the people you love?
It sounds a little morbid. But stay with me.
In an essay called Think About Your Death and Live Better, author Arthur C. Brooks describes an exercise he gives his students. He asks them to estimate how many Thanksgivings they realistically have left with their parents.
At first, the answer might seem obvious: decades! But then you actually do the math. Parents get older. Families move. Holidays get divided between families. Children grow up and develop traditions of their own. Health changes. Suddenly “lots more Thanksgivings” might become 20. Or 15. Or 10.
And Thanksgiving isn’t particularly important here. Pick whatever matters to you. How many more summer vacations will you take with your children before they’re grown? How many Christmas mornings will everyone live under the same roof? How many concerts will you attend with that friend? How many healthy years might you have to travel? How many ordinary Saturday mornings will you spend drinking coffee with your spouse? We tend to think of these experiences as unlimited because we don’t know when they’ll end.
But not knowing the number isn’t the same as the number being infinite.
Brooks argues that this illusion can quietly shape our choices. Work, errands, emails, and other demands feel urgent today. The people and experiences we value can always happen “later.” Until eventually, there isn’t a later. The goal isn’t to frighten ourselves or spend our days thinking gloomily about death. It’s exactly the opposite. Remembering that life is finite can help us notice the life that’s happening right now.
It can make an ordinary dinner more important. A phone call worth making. A petty annoyance a little less important. And a random Tuesday something we don’t necessarily want to wish away.
The takeaway:
We can’t make time unlimited, but we can occasionally remind ourselves that it isn’t. And then choose accordingly.
Today’s challenge: Pick one person or experience that matters deeply to you. Ask yourself: How many more times might I realistically get to do this?
Then ask the more important question:
Knowing that, is there anything I want to do differently today?