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We have been given a gift of around 35,000 days.

Well, I suppose not all of them can really be counted on—things can change in an instant and people die sooner than we expect them to. But, if we’re lucky, we’ll have about that many.

Lately, maybe because of the loss so many have suffered during the pandemic, I’ve been seeing this phrase a lot:

“Make the most of your days.”

I mean, we all know this. But roll those words over your tongue a few times. Break them down. Repeat them, whisper them.

Every single little 24-hour period is a gift. Probably the most valuable one we’ll ever get in our lives, until tomorrow, when we get another.

But they’re not infinite.

You know how on the last day of a vacation from work, or when summer comes to a close, everything’s gone by in a blur and you don’t really know what you did with yourself—but you’re at the end now, and you can’t get those days back? And you feel a little sting of regret that you didn’t spend every single one of those days having the best time of your life?

Damn.

If I had the chance to try again with some of those days, would I take it? Absolutely. Simply to honor the gift that each day truly is.

It’s completely unrealistic to expect to be living a bucket-list life every single day we get. But can’t we take a moment every day to appreciate something, or someone? Have we laughed? Have we smiled? Is there any tiny thing to make each day not feel like it was a wasted one?

If not, what a tragedy.

So, just a little reminder, then—to all of us.

Each of our days, they’re in our hands, like pristine, unblemished pieces of paper just begging to be marked with something good.

The best gift we can give ourselves in December is to Make. Them. Count.