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What's the point in spending your entire life just so you can look back in your final months and be pleased? I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the

by csallen 10y ago

What's the point in spending your entire life just so you can look back in your final months and be pleased? I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total of your happiness over time was at a max. That means factoring in what's important to you now, even if it won't matter to you later on.

falcolas 10y ago
> I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life [...] is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Especially since it's not guaranteed. There's a lot of people who never made it to the "end of their life", and a lot more people who had a retirement planned that they had to give up because life ended up having other plans for them.
nostromo 10y ago
I totally agree with you. In fact, the thrust of my comment is that enjoying life today is undervalued. I bring up the "looking back" angle only because fear of regret is a central theme to these types of "your life is ending one minute at a time" motivational posts. And it's largely false -- you will not regret having enjoyed the simple things in life.
dwaltrip 10y ago
Huh. I've thought about this issue and related issues many times, and I've already arrived at a similar philosophy to what I'm guessing undergirds your post. However, for some reason, the way you described it combined with my current mental state caused something to click for me. Thank you for posting.
Retra 10y ago
> Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total of your happiness over time was at a max. That's a bit too selfish for me. I'd rather spend my life making more than one person happy.
- mden 10y ago
  If that's what makes you happy ;)
cottonseed 10y ago
Yeah! Fuck future me! http://www.pidjin.net/2013/10/24/future-me/ http://www.pidjin.net/2013/10/24/future-me/

by csallen 10y ago

falcolas 10y ago

> I can't think of a reason why your happiness at the end of your life [...] is any more important than your happiness in the middle of your life. Especially since it's not guaranteed. There's a lot of people who never made it to the "end of their life", and a lot more people who had a retirement planned that they had to give up because life ended up having other plans for them.

nostromo 10y ago

I totally agree with you. In fact, the thrust of my comment is that enjoying life today is undervalued. I bring up the "looking back" angle only because fear of regret is a central theme to these types of "your life is ending one minute at a time" motivational posts. And it's largely false -- you will not regret having enjoyed the simple things in life.

dwaltrip 10y ago

Huh. I've thought about this issue and related issues many times, and I've already arrived at a similar philosophy to what I'm guessing undergirds your post. However, for some reason, the way you described it combined with my current mental state caused something to click for me. Thank you for posting.

Retra 10y ago

> Rather, a life well-spent is one in which the sum total of your happiness over time was at a max. That's a bit too selfish for me. I'd rather spend my life making more than one person happy.

mden 10y ago
If that's what makes you happy ;)

cottonseed 10y ago

Yeah! Fuck future me! http://www.pidjin.net/2013/10/24/future-me/ http://www.pidjin.net/2013/10/24/future-me/