I write this not to depress you, but to sober you. To wake you from the trance of the trivial.

Write this on a sticky note and place it on your bathroom mirror:

You are still here.

Remember death.

Take a coin. Flip it. Heads, you live another 50 years. Tails, you die tonight at midnight.

Today is July 28th. The air is thick with summer; the crickets are loud, and the year is more than halfway over. But in the grand calendar of the universe, this date means nothing. It is an inch of sand falling through an infinite hourglass.

Remember You Will Die: Notes from the 28th of July

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” – Marcus Aurelius

Do not squander this improbable, temporary, magnificent chance to be conscious.