The saying frames human life as having two phases: the first lived on autopilot, and the second sparked by a shock of clarity. It isn’t that we literally receive another lifetime; rather, we begin to live differently once we grasp that time is finite and nonrenewable.
From that moment, ordinary days stop feeling interchangeable. Choices gain weight, distractions look costlier, and the future feels less like an abstract promise and more like a narrowing path that deserves attention. [...]
