“I can’t wait…” For the weekend. For this month to be over. To go to sleep. To get married. To get a new job. For retirement.

We can’t seem to wait… but we are.

Why do we live our lives as if we’re always waiting for something? We live as if every passing moment doesn’t actually matter just yet, as if we’re still just rehearsing for something coming. We live as if each day is another transitory moment to when life really happens.

We put off pursuing our passions and wait for “big moments” before we tell our loved ones how much we care about them. Our assumptions eat away at our time without us realizing that we don’t always have the end of every day to look forward to, each weekend, the next few decades and a future full of time to do all of the things we’re too scared to do right now. Most of the time, we have it… but when do we finally reach the “someday” that we keep waiting for?

If you “just don’t have time” to do any of the things that really pull at your passions and make you feel alive, when will you?

Some of us want to believe we’re being realistic. After all, we tell ourselves, we do need to earn income before we satisfy our passions. We know that being able to reconcile the two (like that famous quote: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”) is a privilege that not everyone gets. I understand, and yet I think with pain about the people who die just before they retire, about the people who never get to pursue the dreams they thought of their whole lives.

Can’t we at least do something we love in the meantime if we’re really stuck with nothing but obligations? I want to always be pursuing, even if it’s only in little bits at a time or part of everything I do, the activities that keep me living life with excitement for not just the future, but also for now, for every breath that I’m breathing and everything I attend, walk through and interact with. I want to love what I do so much that I’m always engaged… and I don’t want to wait. I don’t have the time to. Each moment I spend thinking about it is another moment I’ll never get back.

We always hear that we should live as if every day is our last day. Now, if I did, I’d spend much of it crying and not doing schoolwork, so how do we balance our passions with our processes? I believe our processes should be building toward our passions and shaping a purpose out of them – to study, to practice, to learn, as if we still have time, but also to enjoy it and know what the end goal will be. I want to enjoy the journey as much as I love the destination.

So, in actuality, I agree with all of these statements if I change how I look at it. I can’t wait for the future, or the weekend, or when I reach a certain level of intelligence, skill, or happiness. I can’t wait for now. I can’t wait anymore.