There’s a hope that looms in the air when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve.

The potential is pungent and palpable, bubbling up like effervescent dreams splashed into champagne flutes that clank well into the wee hours of the morning. The opportunity for a better tomorrow feels eerily accessible when the calendar changes from one year to the next. Suddenly, the yearnings of yesteryear seem folly and are instead replaced with high-minded goals and lofty resolutions to do better and be better. How can I give back? We ask, wanting to help others. How can I get better? We wonder, wanting to help ourselves.

But amidst all the noise there’s one question that we almost always fail to ask: What if I never make it to tomorrow to begin with?

The end of the year always reminds me of how fragile life really is. My mom passed away four days before New Year’s Eve. I knew a guy in college who died of an overdose while studying abroad in Asia. His birthday was December 31st. Endings have a way of reminding others of beginnings, but they also remind me of, well, endings. All of our hopes and dreams and wishes and goals can come crashing down in a second and be wiped away by the sands of time, never to come to fruition. From ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Another unfinished book. The pen falls to the ground and rolls under the table, its author gone too soon.

Many folks think that grief is the same thing as gloom. I disagree. Loss is nothing more than a reminder to appreciate what we have: The gift of life itself.

As media conglomerates and capitalist corporations gear up for another round of “New Year, New You!” make sure you don’t lose sight of one precious truth: Your very incarnation is a testament to your importance. You don’t need to change a damn thing about yourself in order to matter. So, instead of focusing on all those things about yourself that you’d like to alter and adjust and amend, ask yourself this question instead: How can I more fully accept myself today? Instead of resolving to change yourself, resolve to commit to your life once more. Instead of resolving to erase what makes you you, resolve to embrace it. Instead of looking for blessings, realize that you are one.

Wake up every morning and wonder, What if today was my very last day? Then set out to act like it is. Because it could be. And eventually it will.