As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.

A story is not judged by its page count, and the comparison holds better than it first appears. What makes a life matter includes who was loved and who did the loving, and none of that is measured in years. A short life is not a smaller one for being short.

Where a life was shorter than anyone wanted, this does not make the loss smaller, and it may bring comfort or none at all. Where it is a matter of how you are spending the time you have, the question it opens is what would make this particular year good rather than merely long. That answer is usually more specific and more achievable than the plans that assume decades.