“Today is the last day of your life.” The voice delicately speaks these chilling words through your phone and into your ear. Before you could say a word, the other line has hung up and you are left with no answers. Today was supposed to be a “normal” day, but this strange phone call had come through right after you had killed the screaming of your morning alarm.

Imagine you are the receiver of this bizarre, yet convincing phone call. Would you change the path of your “normal” day? Would you finally take that risk you have stored in the back of your mind? Would you finally express your love to the individual you are scared to confess to? If only we could receive this phone call every single day.

Not only are individuals thrown into the monotonous hum of life, but we even become content with it. There comes a point where every single person loses appreciation for their surroundings and takes the current day for granted. Our society has seemingly become numb to the gift of life. Not only do we spend the majority of our time feeling stressed, we often miss the positiveness that surrounds us.

So, today is the last day of your life. You know it and there is no escaping it. As humans, we always seem to save the best for last so it makes sense that we would utilize our final day to seek extreme happiness. It may be exceptionally hard to imagine today being the last day of your life but living with this mentality can add value to each day.

From now on, wake up and live as if it is your last day. Most of the time you will be incorrect and you will have the opportunity to live another exquisite day, but it is the outlook that we should seek. The ample amounts of productiveness and happiness that come from all of our “last days” are sure to lead to the sense of fulfillment that we long for.

“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.”

-James Dean

Originally published at medium.com