“Make sure you’re not missing out.

Seize the day.

What do you care about?

What matters?

Pursue that.

Forget the rest.”

Now that she has only 22 days left to live, 29-year-old Brittany Maynard has taken the time to reflect on her life so far and has discovered what truly matters to her. Currently, Maynard suffers from stage four brain cancer. Despite several surgeries attempting to combat her tumor, Maynard was told in April that she only had about six months left to live.

After weighing her options, Maynard finally decided that the best decision for her was to pass peacefully in her home. Rather than allowing her condition to slowly and painfully take her, she decided to move to Oregon to take advantage of the death with dignity law. In Oregon, state regulations will allow her to take her own life on the date of her choosing.

After reading about Maynard’s situation online, I was disheartened. At first I just felt pity, but then I began to reflect on her words. Seeing how her outlook on life had changed so significantly now that she knew exactly how much time she had left forced me to weigh the importance of each small moment.

Every detail that seems so important in the short term is ultimately insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Each day I see my peers working so hard towards end goals that seems so far off in the future. Of course I see the value in planning a future, but I also see people forgoing opportunities, experiences they will never be able to recreate.

So where’s the balance? If you really only had a month to live, how would you spend your time? Without a doubt some of the most common responses would include “with my family and friends” or “taking risks and trying new things,” but that seems to be easier said than done.

In a world where everyone is so driven, so focused on what’s coming next, it is hard to live completely in the moment. Throughout the day there is hardly ever a second when we are not either reflecting on something that has happened or planning something to come.

It’s difficult to stumble upon a passion in the midst of this everyday flow of constant movement, especially when a dedicated pursuance of these passions is accompanied by the internalized pressure of succeeding at something you love.

For example, as pronounced as my distaste for math is, it’s easier for me to spend hours studying for the next exam (with Facebook breaks every five minutes or so) than allocate that time to a passion demanding my full conscious presence. Simply put, it’s easier for me to do math because I care about it less – I don’t consider my mathematical abilities a reflection of myself.

Maynard reminds us that it’s our responsibility to make time for the things that fulfill us. While life is finite, the connections we make with the world around us don’t have to be.