It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.
Terry Pratchett
Pratchett reminds me of Douglas Adams. They seem to have the same kind of humor. They take a familiar phrase and rework the obvious to make you see it again for the first time. It is so true about it being a flash. Our lifetimes rush by and are over so quickly. Perspective wise, as youths we feel immortal. By middle age, we sense the impending end. That awareness comes like the first cool morning of Autumn. As we enter our old age, either we become immersed in the fading twilight or approach the inevitable with a happy abandon. I want to be the latter. If I have the good luck to retain my stamina in those years, I see myself traveling, biking, hiking, and generally enjoying my physical self. If I keep my mind sharp, I will continue to learn and read all I can. What comes next? I expect it is something like the time before we became aware. The universe has unfolded over some 14 billion years in which I awakened 50 years ago. While the atoms that constitute me were hurtled through the expansion of the cosmos there was no "me." Finally they all found their way to organize in a pattern that was myself and while that lasts, "I am". And after they have disorganized and gone their separate ways perhaps to disperse across the galaxy and to never find one another again, I will be beyond any harm.