I wasn’t feeling well and was tempted to stay in bed. By force of habit, I pushed myself to get up and get on with what I had scheduled for the morning, and that included some strenuous exercise. I completed the full hour of the exercise and was whipped at the end.
Usually, I would push myself to move immediately on to what was next on my schedule. But on this day, I took notice of the row of new comfortable-looking black leather chairs outside the space where I had been exercising. No one was sitting on the chairs, probably because—like me—no one understood why they were there and if it was alright to sit on them.
I decided to sit on one of the chairs and adjust the back and footrest to my most comfortable position. I relaxed as if I were at home. People who passed looked at me curiously before rushing by to do their exercise routines. As I relaxed and watched people stress themselves with all types of exercises, I began to think about how we are unable to attune to ourselves if we’re in such a rush moving rapidly from one activity to another.
As I became more relaxed and continued to observe, I wondered how any of us might respond to the question: What would you do today if you knew that today was your last day?
My habit at the beginning of a new calendar year has been to repeat and believe that “the best is yet to come.” I still believe this, but I might behave differently by doing more of what I think I would do if I knew it were my last day.
Gwen Dungy 