How to live a longer and more fulfilling life

For the majority of people, death is a topic that doesn’t get discussed regularly. Philosophers have argued that not accepting death is the ultimate denial but, for many, not contemplating death is something that happens naturally. If one were to ask you ‘how many summers do you think you have left?’ what would your answer be? Thinking of death in terms of summers can help you visualise something that can generally be difficult to comprehend, leading you to make decisions about how your life should be led.

Planning for death may seem like a morbid activity, but actually taking into account how long you have left on this planet can help motivate you to live a more fulfilling life and aim for goals you may once have passed off as something ‘for the future’. Ultimately, we don’t know what is around the corner or how long we have until our days are numbered, so making plans and acting on them can help you make the most of your life.

While the number of people who want to live forever are limited, there are equally few people who wouldn’t want to live an extra day, month or year, given the chance. So making the most of the time you do have is vital. Most people are familiar with the concept of a bucket list – a list of ambitions or goals you’d like to achieve before you die – and this can be a great way of noting down your wildest dreams and working to make them happen. Whether it’s travel and sightseeing that you want to achieve, or simply living a more fulfilled life of culture, food and literature, you should aim to make it happen. Accepting mortality and ageing is key to living a life filled with more of what you love.