A good life is had when we take to heart that every day is all that we have.
This isn’t to say that we want to treat each day hedonistically, unless that is what we value most. Rather it’s a directive to pour out your heart, your efforts, all of what’s good instead of saving it for another day. For who knows when that day is to come? This difference is crystallized in that it isn’t today is all we have, but rather every day. Would you want to structure your life like today, if every day were to be today? That’s the guiding question we can use.
The emphasis on the every day encourages daily habits, which sometimes can become cause for anxiety. Notice this in your every day as well. When the strictness of a structure becomes too much cause for suffering, it’s okay to step back and dance with the day itself.
Some days will feel more special. Others will feel extraordinarily dull. But every day is still a day just as worthwhile and meaningful as any other, just like you are meaningful and worthwhile no matter what you have or haven’t gotten done.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day. And no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety. Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Every day is all there is. - Joan Didion