This thought has scared me the moment I had it, but I can't argue against it (with myself and with others) : *"The only moment when your happiness truly matters is the moment right before you die"*

Here is my rational :

**Point 1** **:** The root of all possible reasons to live is to be happy. Happiness can't be obtain if you seek it as is, but only by *wanting* to do something else.

**Point 2 :** Most people are willing to temporarily "sacrifice some their happiness" in the hope of receiving more *later* (exemple : by starting to exercise) : But how far should you look ? You have an idea of how far to plan your future, based on instincts and your knowledge of the diminishing accuracy of your predictions the further you plan: But if you *could*, how long are you willing to wait to guarantee being happy in the future ?

**Point 3 :** No matter how happy you are and for how long: you can't guarantee to never suffer/be sad again. However, being happy for a *long time* helps giving hopes of being happy again for when you're sad (and thus helps being less sad, or sad for a shorter period of time).

**Point 4 :** You ***want*** your "***present*** you" to be happy, but you ***can*** only ever try to make your "***future*** you" happy.

**Point 5 :** The *only* moment where the only "you" that matter is the "present one" (when there is no "future you" to satisfy"), is the "you" right before you die ...

I came up with this conclusion while debating over what having "a good life" means ? The exemple I often give with the previous points is the following:

&gt;If someone lived a miserable life, in which he did miserable/terrible things, but suddenly feels happy the moment he dies, while (on the opposite) someone lived a good fulfilling life of virtue but feels (for some reason) deep regrets and sorrow the moment he dies : Which one of the two had the "best life" ?