Once The Dinner Bell Rings

Which do you guys think is worse:

To live your entire life in unhappiness, or to live the first part of your life in relative happiness, only to have it all suddenly stripped away and the rest of it be unhappy?

Just a random question that I'm curious about:

Say you were given an object that represented your lifespan. An hourglass, a clock, a candle, whatever. Not only does that object represent how much time you have, but if anything should happen to it, you could die.

Would you want to keep it, or give it back?

I think that the answer could say a lot about a person, but I dunno.