"Dying is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable."
Erich Fromm
We always hear that we should live as if it were the last day of our life, but others tell us that it should be as if it were the first. Despite the dilemma and what some say, I have chosen to acquire the habit and learn to see each day as if it were the last. However, reflecting on this, I realize that living as if it were the first day of our life also makes a lot of sense and can help us in our ability to live to the fullest, which is ultimately the message implicit in those expressions.
Let us suppose that our first day of life is spontaneous, that is, that it was not a process of birth and progressive growth, but that we woke up to the world as we are. What would be our reaction? What would be our attitude towards what we see? If we react and behave the same as when we have a new toy or artifact, then we would be excited, curious, because just everything would be strange, unknown, new to us. The sun, the water, the mud. Living beings and our own body. We would notice that we have something throbbing within us, there in the upper left part of the chest. Breathing, talking. The colours, every sound we hear, we would appreciate it carefully, that is to say, we would listen to them. The smell of a flower or a fruit, the very taste of that fruit. Every sip of water we drink. The immensity of the sky, the complexity of a car or a telephone. Each bite would be a new, unique, fascinating experience, we would taste it with pleasure and a lot of attention.
When we meet others we would be surprised by what they are capable of doing, saying, feeling; by what we can learn from them, by sharing what we are living. In short, as everything is new for us, we would appreciate it with hallucination, with charm. It is our first day of life, we have a whole world to know and a life ahead to take advantage of. There is much to experience, to learn, to enjoy, to share,
And there, in my opinion, lies the teaching of that expression "to live each day as if it were the first", because being the first, being everything new, the passion for living is overflowing, the effervescence and the enormous expectations of what that day of life will bring us are immense, and each experience will be something that we will enjoy very intensely.
At the other extreme is the expression, "to live each day as if it were the last". For some it is a fatalistic statement. Because it's like living every moment as if you were going to die and that's a bit fatal. However, death is safer than life, in fact, there is a joke or so dark that it says: "to die all you need is to be alive". Death is uncertain, we will never know when it will come. Therefore, we should not let the hours pass in vain, we should not postpone that which we wish to say, feel or experience.
On the first day we believe that we have a whole life ahead of us, on the last day we know that we will die soon, so we develop a sense of urgency, of a certain anxiety to live 100% because after that day we will no longer be there. We will no longer see our loved ones, we will no longer feel a kiss or a hug, there will be no way to see the sunlight again, nor will we ever eat our favorite food again. We will forever stop hearing the voice of our daughter or that nephew we love so much. We will never feel an orgasm again. We won't listen to any more songs, or watch any more movies; the beach, the river, the mountain? No, not anymore.
Therefore, living as if it were the last day impels us to take advantage of every moment, to value it because we do not know if that will be the day we will say goodbye to this world. And there is the importance of hugging, kissing, saying "I love you", "I'm sorry", "thank you"; of enjoying every sweet, every breath of air, that sunrise or sunset, the rain that falls on us. In short, to live intensely, to do what we like, to enjoy every minute, to smile because if death surprises us, in our face we will probably notice that we enjoy life until the last minute.
Psychologist Elsa Punset says: "People tend to age mentally and emotionally when they lose their curiosity and ability to love. And I fully agree with that statement. To live, in short, is to find the balance between living with the fascination of the new and with the reflection and nostalgia for what will no longer be there. To live as if it were the first day of our existence and as if it were the last. As if we were going to die today or if we were going to die in 50 years.
Gary S. Bilbao
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