晨读英语美文 When I was 17

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like:

[00:09.44]If you live each day as if it was your last,

[00:12.11]someday you'll most certainly be right.

[00:17.18]It made an impression on me, and since then,

[00:19.98]for the past 33 years,

[00:21.84]I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself:

[00:24.60]If today were the last day of my life,

[00:27.02]would I want to do what I am about to do today?

[00:30.61]And whenever the answer has been No

[00:32.49]for too many days in a row,

[00:34.11]I know I need to change something.

[00:37.14]Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool

[00:40.38]I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.

[00:43.47]Because almost everything-

[00:45.47]all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure-

[00:50.90]these things just fall away in the face of death,

[00:54.22]leaving only what is truly important.

[00:56.75]Remembering that you are going to die is the best way

[01:01.72]I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

[01:04.71]You are already naked.

[01:06.41]There is no reason not to follow your heart.

[01:10.86]No one wants to die.

[01:13.45]Even people who want to go to heaven

[01:15.50]don't want to die to get there.

[01:17.54]And yet death is the destination we all share.

[01:21.37]No one has ever escaped it.

[01:23.56]And that is as it should be,

[01:25.53]because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.

[01:30.34]It is Life's change agent.

[01:32.01]It clears out the old to make way for the new.

[01:35.18]Right now the new is you,

[01:37.65]but someday not too long from now,

[01:39.72]you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.

[01:43.63]Sorry to be so dramatic,

[01:45.89]but it is quite true.

[01:47.83]Your time is limited,

[01:49.34]so don't waste it living someone else's life.

[01:53.13]Don't be trapped by dogma-

[01:55.14]which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

[01:58.27]Don't let the noise of others' opinions

[02:00.87]drown out your own inner voice.

[02:02.32]And most important, have the courage

[02:04.43]to follow your heart and intuition.

[02:06.68]They somehow already know

[02:08.59]what you truly want to become.

[02:10.98]Everything else is secondary.