In an increasingly competitive society, living in the moment seems not only challenging, but frowned upon. If we’re not constantly doing something to work towards an end goal, we are wasting our time.
Just like we’re told to save dollars for future expenses, we’re told to put away our present free time for a better opportunity that is on its way. We load up on classes in the summer, passing up on time to travel, so we can add a second major. We pick up extra shifts at work, passing up time with family and friends, so we can have money for unexpected expenses. We work an unpaid internship, passing up our favorite but less notable jobs, so we can add value to our resumes for a better job down the road.
"The situation may not be ideal, but because it’s bad now, life will be good later," we tell ourselves. But it doesn’t have to be this way. We can, in fact, have our cake and eat it, too.
The issue with this system is not what we are doing—it’s how we’re doing it. We sign up for something with purpose, and then we follow through aimlessly. Sure, we may produce grade A work, but it has surface-level value. We have the what, but we’ve lost sight of the why. We can’t feel happiness when we numb ourselves to the passing of time.
Work.
Eat.
Repeat.
You see, the issue isn’t that living in the moment is frowned upon. The issue is that we don’t allow ourselves to open up and live in every moment. We decide that it’s easier to simply get through the boring moments and wake up for the fun moments. We live on autopilot, and in turn, we lose sight of the opportunities and blessings in our day-to-day lives. Moving on autopilot is fatal to he or she who aspires to live.
Fortunately, this on-off lifestyle is a choice, not a fate. We need to consciously and decidedly change how we live. No, this doesn’t require quitting our schooling and careers to move to Hawaii to scoop ice-cream. What it does mean is noticing the people around us, rather than living life with a self-invested, one-track mind. We should be forging meaningful relationships with the people around us: colleagues, neighbors, the people we see regularly. After all, social interactions play a large role in our sense of belonging and happiness.
Changing our lives for the better means living life intentionally and with the right intentions. We need to ask ourselves what we actually want in life. Do we want money? Or do we want the things money will buy, which we believe will ultimately bring us happiness? Maybe what we want is more simple than we’ve cracked it up to be. Maybe we need to clear some clutter from our lives and realign our focus.
What we definitely need to do is to wake up.
“Wherever you are, be all the way there,” author Jim Elliot reminds us. So here’s to living in the moment—every moment.
