I was flying home a few nights ago when the plane shuddered. We were sailing through the darkest of skies in the middle of the night, 30,000 feet up, somewhere above the Atlantic ocean and the ding! that announces the fasten seat belt sign came on. For the next several minutes we shook our way through turbulent air. This was a grip the armrest, teeth jarring pocket of winds.

In that moment I thought what if this is it? What if this is all the warning you get? The plane continued to shake its way through the dark sky, thankfully into more stable parts of the jet stream. And I was left nurturing that nugget of insight: most of our days are spent on insignificant tasks which seem overwhelming enough to supersede our true values.

When our time comes, will we have spent it in the ways that really matter? I’m going to try to remember the terror of those few moments for a long time to come.