I have always struggled with living in the present. My mom used to joke that I was ready to pack my bags and head off to college by the time I was three years old. I didn’t like being told what to do (still true), I was tired of being treated like a little girl (still true), and I firmly believed I knew more than my parents when it came to nap time (now I’m beating myself up for ever turning down that luxury).

While people can look at this humorously, the issue with a young child dreaming about pressing the fast-forward button and suddenly becoming a grown-up is that one day that young child will become a young adult. She’ll finally be a grown-up, technically, and then it will hit her -- being grown up isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Now, she’s left here dreaming about being a real grown-up (what even is that?) and the cycle begins again. Instead of being content with where she is in the present moment, the girl who once thought she’d be happier once she was all grown up is left dissatisfied with the reality of her life.

So, when will she be happy? This is what I struggle with. I have this mindset that I’m never going to be truly happy until the next big thing in my life occurs: graduating college, getting a real job, buying my first home, getting married, having kids. I’m essentially a 35-year-old woman in a 19-year-old college student’s body. In my mind, I won’t be truly happy until I reach that point in my life.

However, I didn't always want to be finished with college as quickly as possible. When I was in high school, I thought true happiness would come to me when I was in college, where I could start over, yet here I am impatiently waiting to graduate. Don’t get me wrong -- ambition is good, and being passionate about making your dreams come true is noble. That being said, wishing your life away makes everything you do at the present moment worthless, and to live like that is simply a waste of living.

Why shouldn’t I be able to start my life now? I have so much that I should be happy with: I’m going to a school where I’ve made so many lasting connections, I have a boyfriend I’m lucky enough to also call my best friend, I have several great jobs, I’m healthy, I live comfortably. The list goes on and on. While it may seem obvious to others that I live a really good life, up until recently I wasn't satisfied with it. I plan on things being different now, though.

I’ve decided that, from now on, I’m going to be happy in the moment. That’s how we all should be. So many of us are dying to grow-up, but every time we take for granted the life we are living, we are letting happy moments pass us by unknowingly. We’re not even getting the chance to appreciate everything good around us because we’re focusing on just the bad. If we are always only looking forward to the distant future, we’re essentially setting ourselves up for failure. It is not your future’s responsibility to make you a happy person.

As cliché as it sounds, the little things are what can make you truly happy. It’s time to stop wishing your life away, and live in the moment. Take a deep breath, look around, smile, and be content with the life you’re living right at this very second.