In high school, time going by feels endless and routine is drilled into our lives so that nothing feels new or exciting. We are waiting for that moment that we are handed our diploma as we look off into the crowd at our families and into the horizon of our futures. Every new school year feels predictable and bland. Like a movie you have watched repeatedly just because the end is the best part. But there is a lot wrong with waiting for the end.

If we cease to enjoy every moment then we are aiding in the succession of our lives. We are hurrying away our childhoods and taking for granted the small, lost moments that could have been meaningful in a very minuscule way. As we wait for Friday, there is the inevitable, gut-wrenching sensation that we have whisked away hundreds of thousands of Fridays before that that we forgot to stop and enjoy the moment. What happened to all that time? Weren’t we just sitting on the playground, de-stressing from all the impending doom that fifth grade would give us?

Do not wish high school away. Do not wish away college or your 20s or so on down the line. Live for every moment in between all the bad ones. Although we are bound to face trying times, especially growing up, you are going to miss certain things about your youth you wouldn’t expect to miss. One day you are going to get home and your parents are going to have gray hair, you’re going to have a job, and your priorities are suddenly less social and more rigorous. One day you are going to realize that the places you always went to as a kid have changed, perhaps because the lens you view them through has changed. You are going to miss the ease of being in close proximity to your close ones, the people you grew up with, and the people you thought you would not miss.

One of the most crushing feelings is realizing that the motivating factor behind living is to “get through” and realizing that that time could have been spent differently. It is much more fulfilling to look back on life knowing that every moment was at least used in an attempt to live fully. Waiting for the better times is risky because none of us know when they will be. If you have control over a moment, you have the power to choose how you live it. It all lies in perception. It can be a hard day because it is perceived that way or because it really is. But if you have a spare moment, think to yourself things you can do to take care of yourself, let the people who love you know that you love them too, and feel grateful that whatever you have, you have. Not every day is meant to be perfect, but every day is meant to be lived.