"You have to count on living every single day in a way you believe will make you feel good about your life - so that if it were over tomorrow, you'd be content with yourself"

The words invite a daily practice of integrity. Treat each day as a meaningful unit, not merely a stepping-stone to a distant future. Live by the values you truly endorse, not the ones borrowed from habit, fear, or other people’s expectations. Feeling good about your life here implies more than chasing comfort; it points to the quieter satisfaction that comes from congruence, acting in a way that matches what your heart and conscience recognize as right.

Mortality becomes a compass rather than a source of dread. If everything ended tomorrow, would you be at peace with how you spoke to loved ones, the courage you showed, the kindness you offered, the attention you paid to what matters? This is not a call to recklessness or to compress life into a frenzy of bucket-list impulses. It’s an invitation to remove procrastination from what is essential: telling the truth, apologizing, beginning the work that scares you, making art, being generous, setting boundaries, resting without guilt.

Contentment arises not from perfect outcomes but from wholehearted engagement. You might leave projects unfinished, but you won’t leave your character unattended. The aim is fewer avoidable regrets: fewer moments where fear silenced you, fewer instances where convenience outweighed compassion. “Feeling good” becomes enduring pride rather than fleeting pleasure, the quiet knowledge that you acted as the kind of person you aspire to be.

This approach respects both ambition and presence. You can pursue long-term goals while ensuring today contains a meaningful slice of that purpose, one honest paragraph written, one patient conversation, one step toward repair. It also requires self-forgiveness. When you fall short, make amends and realign quickly, so even your mistakes become part of a life you can accept.

Lived consistently, this stance produces a cumulative peace. Day by day, you build a self you can stand beside, so that whenever the curtain falls, it finds you already living the ending you can live with.