Life is all about experiences. Those experiences shape us into who we are. The emotions we feel as an after-effect can make all of the difference.

Feeling lost. Feeling found. Feeling helpless. Feeling hope. Feeling loss. Feeling elation. Feeling heartbreak. Feeling love. Experiencing change. Learning about yourself. Learning about others. Experiencing for yourself what others have only ever written about or witnessed. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll get to feel all of these things. And if you're really lucky, you'll feel them in the moment it's happening.

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All we have is this moment. The significant, resounding now. If we look too far ahead, we get anxious. If we dwell too far in the past, we get lost in what was. We can only take now and shape it into what we want it to be.

We’ve grown too comfortable in our existence. We’re merely drifting through life waiting for something new to happen. We are waiting on something that comes next. We are waiting for the future because our hope is that the future will be better. When we do that, we’re missing all of the possibilities we have access to now.

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Maybe we don’t take more chances because we think we’ll be better prepared for it later on. We rationalize the thought that the future “me” will have more knowledge and will therefore be more willing to take on the challenge. But that’s not how life works. We’ll never fully be ready for anything. We’re not born with the knowledge of how to do everything. It’s difficult to get past the comfort of routine, but once you make a habit of taking chances, it gets easier every time.

Use that uncertainty to fuel you into figuring things out. Life’s uncertainty is meant to spur us into action. It is meant to keep us on our toes and inspire curiosity. Uncertainty and the moment we are given right now are meant to be used to make ourselves better. To make our world better. Every continued moment of now is how progress is made.

In the end, every one of us is scared. We never fully get past that unnerving feeling. That’s the gift of life. Life wants us to utilize that feeling so that we continue to explore. So that we don’t have to wonder what’s around the bend. We already know that death is inevitable, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make the most of the journey. It doesn’t mean that we have to make things harder in order for them to be worth something.

Make this moment about forgiveness. About reaching for something more. Shape this moment into kindness. Appreciate everything and everyone that allowed you to get you where you are today. Even appreciate the ones who stood in your way. Become aware of every detail. Let go of your expectations of what you think the future has to be. After this moment, there will be more. But none will be as good as now.

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