Once upon a time, we were little kids in elementary and middle school wishing for the day to come where we would grow up and become adults. I remember begging for time to move faster so I could leave home, go to college and start my life. I have vivid memories of playing school pretending I was a teacher in my own classroom and would pretend my room in my house was my college dorm room. I thought living on my own would be so cool and being completely independent would be the easiest thing in the world. I wished away my high school years and, at times, even thought I wanted to skip college to move on with my life. For the longest time, I had this glorified image in my head of what growing up looked like. Let me tell you, my life now is nothing like I had pictured, yet the only thing I would change in this very moment is for time to slow down. Ironic, right?

I may only be in my second year of college and still have two more years until I officially have to enter the big bad world, also known as adulthood. However, it was not until I came to college that I realized how badly I messed up by wishing away time while I was growing up. The problem with wishing away time is that while you are too busy daydreaming about the future you miss out on what is happening around you. When you are young you don’t know how important it is to appreciate what is happening around you. You don’t realize to appreciate all the memories, fun times and easy carefree time that is occurring. I surely did not appreciate time when I was growing up and I low-key hate myself for it.

The ever so insightful Nathan Scott once said “It’s the oldest story in the world. One day you're seventeen and planning for someday. And then quietly and without you ever really noticing, someday is today. And that someday is yesterday. And this is your life.” Boy, is this the truth. I have clear memories of laying in bed during the months leading up to move-in day for college. I would think to myself, “oh, this time will go by so slow I just want to move in already.” Little did I know that that time would fly by and here I am in my sophomore year of college. Like, what? Where did all this time go? I blinked once and my freshman year of college was finished. Then I blinked again and it was move-in day all over again. (I should probably just stop blinking).

If I had the chance to relive my life, the one thing I would change is I would enjoy every moment and never wish for time to speed up ever again. Enjoy the time where your only responsibility is going to school and maybe an hour of homework a night. Embrace your awkward years. Take every opportunity you are given. Just enjoy life while it is happening. I am sure you have all heard the phrase “stop and smell the roses.” Well do it. Stop and appreciate what is happening around you because once it is gone, it is gone forever.

I embrace every obstacle that comes my way and decide I will grow from what is thrown at me rather than wishing I never had to deal with it in the first place. There have been so many times in my life where I wished I could just fast forward or even rewind time. I wouldn’t like what was happening in my life so I would just wish everything away. Looking back now I regret this so much. It is essential to live in the moment because that one moment will eventually be gone forever. I am sure there will still be times in my life when I will wish time would get a move on. When this happens, I will recognize that no matter what is happening right now, it is important and I need to accept it. I need to enjoy every second of every minute and so do you because no matter how much we ignore this fact, time will one day be gone. So live in the moment and watch your life change.