Live Each Day as Though It’s Your Last

[DISCLAIMER]

As I wanted to see my sister graduate high school, and because the field of military police required candidates to be at least 19-years-old before training for the job, I entered the Delayed Entry Program when enlisting in the United States (U.S.) Marine Corps in 1996.

With my birthday in September, attending U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, I can’t recall whether I completed my first will (a legal declaration of a person’s wishes regarding the disposal of one’s property or estate after death) at age 18 or 19.

What I do remember is that I had so many near-death experiences before attending boot camp that it wasn’t a source of significant concern to get my affairs in order (organizing one’s legal documents, financial accounts, and personal records in preparation for an inevitable death).

Fortunately, I’d learned biblical lessons which guided my beliefs about life and death by the time I completed my first will. Specifically, I considered Luke 12:13-21—The Parable of the Rich Fool:

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”

14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”

16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’

18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Getting my affairs in order while attending boot camp wasn’t done with an “eat, drink and be merry” outlook—or as it’s expressed in modernity, YOLO (you only live once). Rather, I lived each day as though it was my last, carefully preparing for death each day.

Although I’d unnecessarily thrown caution to the wind on many occasions before joining the Marines, I eventually realized that a YOLO mindset wasn’t conducive to adequate reverence (honor or respect shown) for life. Now, I think about this matter when reading a book.

As Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is informed by Stoic philosophy, this blog entry is part of an ongoing series regarding a book entitled The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

Ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca stated, “Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing. Let us balance life’s books each day. . . . The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time” (page 363).

Do you live each day as though it’s your last? Or do you throw caution to the wind, declaring YOLO before performing some reckless act? Or do you altogether shy away from thinking about death and dying? Regarding this matter, authors of The Daily Stoic state (page 363):

Live each day as if it were your last” is a cliché. Plenty say it, few actually do it. How reasonable would that be anyway? Surely Seneca isn’t saying to forsake laws and considerations—to find some orgy to join because the world is ending.

A better analogy would be a soldier about to leave on deployment. Not knowing whether they’ll return or not, what do they do?

They get their affairs in order. They handle their business. They tell their children or their family that they love them. They don’t have time for quarreling or petty matters. And then in the morning they are ready to go—hoping to come back in one piece but prepared for the possibility that they might not. Let us live today that same way.

Although I never deployed to a theater of war, I qualified for hostile fire/imminent danger pay (extra money at a tax exempt status) when assigned to the Marine Security Guard detachment in Lima, Peru, due to the terrorism threat level in Lima at the time. Things got a little spicy!

Even then, I lived each day as though it was my last, though I didn’t live recklessly. After Lima, when stationed aboard Marine Corps Air Station Miramar—associated with my military service period when the photo below was captured, other Marines and I knew that death was guaranteed.

With adequate deference (respect and esteem due) for death, we posed for a Vietnam-style photo opportunity. After all, each of us updated our wills when the September 11 attacks occurred at around the time that photo was taken. If death awaited us, then we’d greet it with a smile!

That’s what living each day as though it’s the last means to me. It’s keeping one’s affairs in order, not living recklessly, showing adequate reverence for life and deference for death, and knowing that at the end of one’s proverbial path of life is the rest of an inescapable death.

Now, I encourage you to contemplate death and dying in this regard. It isn’t a frightening topic, unless you needlessly make it so. Thus, I invite you to live each day as though it’s your last. Besides, I’ll guarantee this one thing herein: You most certainly will die one day! Live until then.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

References:

Daily Stoic. (n.d.). Translating the Stoics: An interview with “The Daily Stoic” co-author Stephen Hanselman. Retrieved from https://dailystoic.com/stephen-hanselman-interview/

DoD Financial Management Regulation. (2009, May). Summary of major changes to DoD 7000.14-R, Volume 7A, Chapter 10, “Special pay – Duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger.” U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved from https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/fmr/archive/07aarch/07a_10_May09.pdf

Holiday, R. and Hanselman, S. (2016). The daily stoic: 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. Penguin Random House LLC. Retrieved from https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-daily-stoic-366-meditations-on-wisdom-perseverance-and-the-art-of-living-d61378067.html

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Hollings, D. (2022, November 17). Preparedness. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/preparedness

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Hollings, D. (2026, April 9). Real Terrorism: Operation Eternal Darkness. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/real-terrorism-operation-eternal-darkness

Hollings, D. (2024, May 22). Reasoning with the unreasonable. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/reasoning-with-the-unreasonable

Hollings, D. (2024, April 21). Stoicism. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/stoicism

Hollings, D. (2025, October 22). The construct. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-construct

Hollings, D. (2026, April 23). The three traditionally identified components of the mind: Affect, cognition, and conation. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/the-three-traditionally-identified-components-of-the-mind-affect-cognition-and-conation

Hollings, D. (2025, February 28). To try is my goal. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/to-try-is-my-goal

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