This essay, one of Seneca's most widely read, was addressed to his father-in-law Paulinus around 49 CE. It argues that life is long enough if we use it wisely — the problem is not its brevity but our squandering of it.
Seneca examines how people waste their years on trivial pursuits, procrastination, and anxious busyness, urging his reader to reclaim time as life's most precious resource.
"No one is to be found who is willing to distribute his money, yet among how many does each one of us distribute his life!"
— Of the Shortness of Life, 3