In today's world, life moves fast. Day after day, we lose time without even realizing it. You can sit down to watch YouTube at noon and not even realize that hours have gone by and your day has been wasted. I realized how badly we want life to move lightning fast after being stuck behind someone going the speed limit on a 45 mph road. I felt as though I was traveling five miles per hour, and quickly became impatient.

As I was going the speed limit, I realized how fast I would travel down a road I take every day to get to my University. Going that fast, I never noticed how beautifully the sun shone on the trees and the many colors that made up the clear skies. Noticing this brought me an indescribable peace and comfort that I feel when I have no worries. Not only did slowing down allow me to appreciate my visual surroundings, it allowed me to appreciate my audible surroundings. I fully listened to the song on my playlist, taking note of each sound that came together to create something beautiful. Through this experience, I realized that to enjoy life, we more often than not have to slow it down and live in the present to appreciate the little things that would usually not come across as important.

Life wasn't made to be lived 100 miles per hour. When you pause, take a breather, and look at your surroundings, you find that there is beauty in everything around us; a perfect example of finding beauty in everything is nature.

At least once during finals week, or in a time of great stress, go outside for an hour. Breathe in the fresh air, listen to the sounds of birds and rustling leaves, feel the warmth of the sun's rays on your skin, and just take everything in. Notice the smallest insects crawling around on leaves and trees, study how an alligator waits calmly for its next meal to pass it by. The trees, the alligator, and the insects have no worries. Nature should be our role model. The animals do not worry about the future or dwell on the past. Animals live in the present and live their lives one day at a time. In a similar way, we must take each day one second at a time. Appreciate and taste the food you eat without worrying about your next test or other situations. Listen to music to escape and listen closely to each strum of the guitar, each hit of the drum, and each vocal in the song. Appreciating and noticing every little detail will allow you to enjoy things much more.

As a college student, I completely understand wanting to live life fast and get out into the world. But each day is 24 hours, and there is no changing that. So take advantage of the time we are given, and don't worry about the future. Taking each moment one second at a time and slowing yourself down can help tremendously in the long run. Living in the present should be the only option one has, as you cannot change the past or rush the future. Understanding this can reduce pain and help cope with negative emotions.

Pink Floyd put it perfectly in their song "Time" from the album "Dark Side of the Moon". "You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today. And then one day you find ten years have got behind you. No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun".

Life is too short to live fast, so why are you rushing?