Being completely consumed by the present moment, the infamous here and now, is a concept that was undervalued for the better part of my 22 years. Of the many realizations that travel has granted me, how to be fully present for key moments in this beautiful life is by far one of the most appreciated.
My realization of this concept occurred to me on a recent adventure in Europe, and the moment hit me so hard that I had to give it the attention it so well deserved. My friends and I were on the heels of a week spent shuffling from city to city throughout Europe, and seeing things I had only imagined I would ever see on The Travel Channel's latest episode of "Passport to Europe." The evenings events left me standing on a rooftop at 9:59 p.m. on a lovely Paris night, surrounded by the most amazing people. We were anxiously waiting for the evening's first magical sparkle that could only come from the Eiffel Tower. There we stood, camera in the ready position to capture the perfect photo just as the light show would erupt. We chattered mindlessly about where we would have dinner later that evening. Would anything still be open at that hour? I wondered about transportation. If we stayed the whole "five" minutes that the Eiffel Tower sparkled in all of its gloriousness, how would I be able to catch the metro back to the hostel before it stopped running that evening. Would I have to catch a taxi?
Yes. These were the thoughts that consumed my mind as I waited for the Eiffel Tower to light up the night for the first time in my life!
Now, I do not know if it is the insane amount of wanderlust pumping through my veins or if the average person gets as enthusiastic about this sort of experience as I do, but the Eiffel Tower at night was among the ultimate top five on my bucket list. So fortunately for me, those obscure thoughts were put to rest quickly.
10 p.m. struck, and it finally began! Thousands of golden lights twinkling so bright that I couldn't have looked away if I had wanted to. It was a moment so magical it could have brought tears. We all have those moments, right? Moments when we are so utterly happy, we become overwhelmed with all sorts of inappropriate emotions. The chatter quieted, my camera dropped slowly back down to my side, and for the first time I stood completely captivated by what was in front of me. I looked at the beautiful faces, new and old friends that I was able to share the experience with and saw that they were as in complete awe of the moment as I was. We exchanged goofy grins and brief glances of absolute joy. The thoughts of food, metros and time were a faded blur. We did stay for the whole five minutes, as well as fifty five more minutes after to watch the golden lights sparkle once more.
It was not until I arrived back home and was flipping through photos that I realized I had not one photo from my favorite moment. That was OK. I knew that a photo could never do the moment justice. It would be a memory I would always treasure.
At that moment, I promised myself that I would live in the present. I would never be so anxious for what comes next, and I would never miss the opportunity for a moment like that again.
To quote John Lennon, "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." So let us allow more moments to captivate us. Let's slow down long enough to appreciate the people and places in front of us. It's no easy feat, but let us master the art of being present, so that we do not miss how insanely interesting and extraordinary the little things that make up our big world truly are.
