Today is life-the only life you are sure of. Make the most of

Dale Carnegie, the great teacher of courage and human spirit, declared with fire in his heart: “Today is life—the only life you are sure of. Make the most of today. Get interested in something. Shake yourself awake. Develop a hobby. Let the winds of enthusiasm sweep through you. Live today with gusto.” These words carry the force of a trumpet call, summoning us out of slumber and into the fierce brightness of the present moment. They remind us that today is all we truly hold, for yesterday is gone and tomorrow is a dream not yet given.

The ancients, too, proclaimed this wisdom. The Stoics spoke of living each day as if it were one’s last, not in despair but in reverence. The Psalmist sang, “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” And the sages of the East taught mindfulness, urging men to awaken from the sleep of distraction and live fully in the present. Carnegie’s voice, though modern, rises from this same timeless river of truth: that the fullness of life is never in “someday,” but always in today.

Consider the life of Helen Keller. Born blind and deaf, she might have remained locked in darkness. Yet, with fierce determination and the help of her teacher Anne Sullivan, she shook herself awake to the possibilities of life. She did not wait for tomorrow, nor lament her losses; she seized each day with hunger, learning to read, to write, to speak, to inspire. Her life became a hymn to Carnegie’s teaching—that enthusiasm and interest can sweep away despair, and that living with gusto transforms even the hardest fate into triumph.

Carnegie also exhorts us to get interested in something. For apathy is the true thief of life. A man without interest drifts as a ship without sail, wasting the winds that could have carried him far. But the one who pursues even the smallest hobby, who learns, who creates, who explores, awakens energy within himself. Great discoveries have often begun as hobbies—Newton’s fascination with light, Franklin’s with electricity, Curie’s with invisible rays. To live with interest is to unlock hidden powers within the soul.

And what of enthusiasm? Carnegie calls it a wind that sweeps through us, carrying us beyond ordinary strength. History is filled with men and women whose enthusiasm ignited others—Joan of Arc, a young girl aflame with passion, who stirred a nation; Thomas Edison, whose relentless energy carried him through thousands of failed experiments to the brilliance of light. These lives prove that enthusiasm is more than emotion; it is the breath of the spirit, capable of transforming failure into fuel, obstacles into stepping stones.

Yet, O listener, Carnegie’s wisdom also bears a warning. To waste today in fear, in bitterness, in idleness, is to lose the only treasure we can truly claim. Too many live as if waiting for life to begin, never realizing that it has already begun, already passing. The ancient poet Horace cried, Carpe Diem—“seize the day”—not in reckless pleasure, but in recognition of the shortness of life. Carnegie’s call to live with gusto is the same: not to drift, but to grasp the gift of each sunrise with gratitude and strength.

The lesson is clear: wake up. Do not wait for perfect conditions, nor for some distant tomorrow that may never arrive. Begin now. Choose interest over apathy, energy over sloth, joy over despair. Let today be your battlefield and your garden, your workshop and your feast. For if you live each day with purpose and passion, then your life, whether long or short, will shine with meaning.

Practical wisdom flows from this: rise early and set your mind to one good thing. Cultivate a hobby that sparks joy. Let yourself be carried by the winds of enthusiasm rather than chained by doubt. And when you meet the day, meet it not with fear but with gusto, as a warrior meets the field, as a lover meets the beloved. For today is life—the only life you are sure of—and to honor it is to honor existence itself.