Looking at just the past few weeks, it truly blows me away how much can change in a short period of time. This weekend I had the pleasure of going back to Catalina Island to research the effects of the previous rainstorm on the Island. Over the summer I spent around two months living directly on Catalina Island. My research partner and I hiked all across the vast island in search of freshwater springs. We investigated nine watersheds. Five of which were bone dry and four of which had small springs, laid deep in the backcountry. The past couple weeks California has seen a remarkable amount of rain. Catalina itself is having some of the biggest rain storms in the last four to five years. And the changes from this storm were remarkable on the landscape of the island.

Catalina Island is nonetheless a desert island. My research associate and I felt like we were searching for a needle in a haystack when we were tasked with surveying the island for surface water. Our first couple field expeditions provided no luck with finding any water. We thought we would search the whole island and find no water, because it was so dry out there. Seeing the island this last weekend was truly surreal. The entire landscape was different than what I remembered. The island was lush and green, there was even a small trickle of water near our research base.

We journeyed to the interior of the island and we found water everywhere. Reservoirs that were completely empty were now filled, and watersheds that were bone dry now had small water creeks. The amount of change on the island from a week of rain was astounding. The water flow was so strong that entire landscapes were modified. The Little Harbor stream now connected itself all the way from the spring site to the ocean. The new stream displaced many feet of sand and exposed the island bedrock—completely changing the aesthetic of the beach.

I bring this experience up in particular to highlight the role of time in our existence. Every single instance is a new time. It is as if our life is the integration of a curve; where each infinitesimal piece of time is summed up to create what would be our perception of reality. And because every moment is a new time, we are constantly creating a new perception for what our new time looks like. And sometimes until we have the chance to reflect on our past times do we have an opportunity to comprehend the amount of change that we have undergone. As I look over this past semester, I see a number of changes that occurred in such a short amount of time.

Both personally and in the world surrounding me, things have changed this year. From my diet, to my friend group, to my career development—this year has been an incredible stage of growth for myself. And now the world around us continues to reshape as well. President Trump is now the president and has already issued a number of executive orders. And even as I continue to ramble on, the world is continually changing. I feel as if every day is an eternity, but in the whole scope of things, my life has sped away. I turn twenty this March, and I already feel old. I still cannot get over the fact that I am about to finish my second year of college even. And in my short twenty years, I have done so much. I feel as if I have lifetimes, because I have gone through so much change each year. But then again, I feel as if I have just started living. To be alive, to be human, is a precious gift. Take some time to appreciate what you’ve been given, because there isn’t enough time to waste.