When the time scale is seconds and you are in your middle age death is not what's on your mind. But when you're talking about years then that changes. Every year has a statistical likelihood of being your last, the older you get the bigger that chance (once you're out of infancy). Even if the distribution were flat then you'd be looking at something along the lines of 3/70th so roughly 4.5% or so for three years.
I've buried enough people in their middle age by now to not take the next three years for granted.
We're all wasting our time anyway. An hour a day of commuting, 8 hours of work, 4 minutes brushing your teeth, 8 hours sleeping, an hour here and there trolling Hacker News... there's half your life right there.
Look at it as getting paid $6,000 an hour to read books for three years. Not the worst gamble someone my age could take.
I've buried enough people in their middle age by now to not take the next three years for granted.
You can't take it with you.