How Much Time Do You Have Left?

Me? I don’t know.

Michelle Okafor
3 min readAug 19, 2024
Photo by Alfred Schrock on Unsplash

I am not sure if it’s just me, but I am rather obsessed with living and dying. It’s probably just me. Two weeks ago I buried my aunt. She was one of 6 siblings, 5 girls and one boy. My mother was her sister. There is only one sister and a brother left now.

It took me back to when both my parents were alive and the great time we had. In my youthful bliss I did not think it would ever end, but it did. I was lucky enough to have them both until I was an adult. I was lucky that we were a close-knit family.

I don’t regret anything. It just reminds me of my eventual demise. That it will come to each one of us at a predetermined time. A timeline we are not privy to. All the more reason to make every moment count.

The days are long, but the years are short.

I have become familiar with the practice of Stoicism and I must say, it helps to put things in perspective. To determine what is within your control and what is not. Most of us don’t have control over how or when we will go.

Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

- Epicurus

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Michelle Okafor

Writer of short, inspirational pieces. Make the most of your time here, for we pass this way only once. See the good in yourself and others.