Living in the Moment
I think all of us would like to believe that we consistently embody the “live in the moment” mentality—being fully immersed in the here and now of our lives, taking in what we’re doing, and the time being spent with the people around us, exactly in the moment that we’re doing it. However, I think it’s safe to say that this is, unfortunately, more of the exception than it is the rule…
We’re all guilty of it—getting caught up in social media and the internet, “living” vicariously through the adventures of others, at least what they appear to be, or quietly rushing through time to get to a more exciting or “desirable” place within our own lives. We all know just how much of a highlight reel social media can be, yet we, sometimes, still take the pictures that we see at face value, and as a result, use the “published” lives of others as a basis of evaluation for our own.
This definitely is not the best practice, and I think we can all agree on that, but it comes more naturally than we may care to admit…using what others are doing as a “model” for what we should be doing and how we should be doing it…It can be hard to rid ourselves of this mentality naturally; however, things happen, for better or for worse, that force us to reflect, and, ultimately, reevaluate ourselves and the way that we live our lives. I guess you can say that I’ve had one of these moments in my very recent past, which has brought me to the topic of today’s post.
We don’t know where life is going to take us—the successes that we will experience, the obstacles that we will face…We do know that there will be moments that will be better or more rewarding than others, but we have no way of predicting when these times will be, or when the not-so-good will prevail…So, why do we spend our valuable time living vicariously through others, and why do we wish for certain times to pass so we can get to something that we would consider to be “better”?
Not every moment of our lives is going to be as perfect as social media can make it seem, and that’s more than okay…actually, it’s normal. We have our really fun and exciting days and we have our “boring” and, seemingly, undesirable days—One week may be spent on vacation, days occupied with nothing more than relaxation, good food, and quality family time. The next week may be spent behind a desk, long hours filled with work or studying, things that didn’t seem to cross our mind the week prior—We also have our “normal” days, the most common, I would say…maybe we exercise, run some errands, catch up with family or friends…“everyday” occurrences, but nothing too crazy.
Regardless of the way that we choose to spend each of our days, the most important thing to remember is that they’re just that: ours. Although the things that we see on social media may temporarily convince us otherwise, choosing to live your life differently than others seemingly do—how you spend your time, who you spend it with—does not necessarily make what you’re doing wrong. Whether we realize it or not, we do the things that we do for a reason. However, when we allow our perceptions of the way life “should” be to get the best of us, we’re losing our ability to find enjoyment in the things that we’re choosing to have occupy our time.
So, be present, live in the here and now, find the good in every day…we don’t know when our life is going to change, and we don’t want to look back and wish that we had embraced those seemingly “insignificant” moments while we had the chance. Time passes by faster than we even realize (seriously, it’s already the middle of July, like how?), so be sure to slow down every once in a while, live your life as you choose, and, most importantly, embrace each moment as you live it. Your future self will thank you for it.
