“Don’t let the pursuit of tomorrow diminish the joy of today.”
We’re all human. And as humans, we tend to dwell on the past or fret about the future—especially those of us with anxiety. Most days I’m stressed and overwhelmed, never truly relaxed. College is where this heightens as it does for most other students. My mind will go from stressing about doing laundry to stressing about school to wondering how I’ll be in the real world. It can be exhausting.
As college students, it’s normal to feel lost and stressed as we endure through our years. This is part of growing and learning. However, I share this to highlight the importance of being present in our lives. If you’re constantly preoccupied with the past or future, you’ll miss out on the positive moments happening right now. The days are long but the years are short. So, it’s important to be present and live our life day by day, moment by moment. Especially in college. Even if it’s not your favorite thing, we only get this opportunity once, so we have to make the most of it and be present while we have it.Â
In working on being present, I remind myself of three things:
- Not everything is in your control.Â
I often evaluate what’s in my control and what’s not. Recently, I realized I’ve been overly fixated on the future —most of which I can’t control. Right now, all I can do is focus on myself, my studies, and my athletics; the rest will fall into place. You can’t control what other people are doing with their lives or what the world entails, but anything that involves our own selves is in our control.
- You can’t have it all.
You can’t do everything! So, stop trying to achieve it all at once. Instead, find what you’re good at and what you value, and grow from there. This is an important concept to recognize how much you can do and achieve. Further, it’s helpful to establish your priorities and to not overload our plates. So, we don’t need to over-work ourselves and avoid being present through constant stress. Besides, if you have too many things going on, you can’t excel in every area to the best of your abilities. We are humans, not robots.
- The future comes one day at a time.Â
No one becomes an award-winning author or a neurosurgeon in one day. It’s about the journey and taking life day by day. We can’t keep saying: “When X is done, I’ll be happy.” We have to start being present and working on being happy right now. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.”
I encourage each and every one of you to practice being more present. I’m working on it myself. Look at where you are right now and how much you stressed to get to where you are. I wish I could go back to high school me, or middle school me, or childhood me, and remind myself that everything will work out and be okay. Life should be enjoyable so don’t miss out on it while it’s here.