How I Learned To Live in the Present

Living in the present is one of the most important aspects of life. For many people, this can be a bit challenging. For me, it was one of the most challenging things I ever had to try to do. For most of my life, I was either worrying about the future or dwelling on the past. Because of this, it has put a bit of a dent on my life and had made me unable to live my life the way I wanted to. Recently, I learned that the future is not something to worry about and will be great and the past is just that; the past.

My issues with this started as early as my senior year of high school when I was getting ready to apply to colleges. When I was working on my applications, resume, and college essays, this was the start of how much I was worried about the future. Not only that, since I was graduating soon and worrying about the future, I also found myself dwelling on the past by crying myself to sleep every single time I even thought about graduating and doing big kid schoolwork in college. It was taking over my life and I did now know how to stop it at the time.

Because of this, for the entirety of my college career, I couldn't help but obsess over the future which would affect my mental health in the long run. It would also affect my grades, my personal life, and even my professional life too. I was beginning to become more stressed and would think I have no future at all because when people asked what my plans for the future were, I would completely blank out, which would later result in a mental breakdown and cry uncontrollably because I did not know the answer to a simple question.

Around the time I finished college, I met lots of people that made me realize that I was worried about nothing that entire time. They taught me that the best way for the future to be filled with fulfilment is to live in the present. It turns out all I needed to learn how to live in the moment was just to have some fun and be with some great company that does not stress you out. Being bombarded with questions about what I was going to do with my life or even thinking about the past stressed me out to no end and would often result in not doing anything at all. When I was just living in the moment and not thinking about anything else but the time I was having with my friends or significant other, that changed.

Living in the moment is one of the greatest gifts we can have, that's why it's called the "present" (haha). I don't know what I want, and that's okay. The best things come in the least expected moments, and living in the present can be the best thing for anyone's mental health. I could not be more grateful for the people in my life that taught me this lesson, and I am a better person because I am able to live in the moment.