You know that surreal feeling of sitting in your parked car in the driveway, realizing you pretty much just ran through the motions of getting yourself home without really being aware of your surroundings? For a moment, it's evident that this is quite dangerous, for if you had just taken a split second longer to pump your brake pedal or fogged out while taking an otherwise familiar bend, you might not have made it back so safely. Turns out, this phenomenon has earned itself a name - and really, only in hindsight, do we ever realize the true threat it poses.

In a comparable word, autopilot.

Hate to break it to you, but today, I won't be talking about road traffic safety. This experience just better captures the realization of how often I'm disconnected from tasks or people at hand. And no, I'm no longer allowing my phone to be the automatic scapegoat.

I usually find that my mind is too busy planning, jumping forward to what's next. You may not have this sort of relationship with proactivity and still understand what it's like to be aware that your mind is just somewhere else—it's basically the same thing.

Honestly, it's become pretty impossible to not experience this at least several times a day; it has nothing to do with being bored and everything to do with not being mindful. A 2010 study by co-author Daniel Gilbert claims "mind wandering occurred in 46.9% of the samples," but everyday life filled with the monotony of classes, work, and generally ingrained routines suggest this is a blatant understatement.

I'm not about to preach something that often goes in one ear and out the other, as this is the type of discussion that aggressively goes directly for technology.

"Be present." "Live in the moment."

I reiterate—my mind wanders just as much when I'm unplugged, and I'm just as discontented by it.

So, what can we do about it? Well, the answer is bound to vary from person to person. I've found that engagement with whatever I'm trying to focus on is a good place to start, whether that be participating more in class, physically taking notes with pen and paper, etc. But what's thrown me for a loop is that this happens to me outside of academic settings more often than I would've expected. A preoccupied mind is one actively prioritizing something else.

I know the overly simplistic solution would be to slow down. I roll my eyes at this, but never seriously take it into consideration. And easier said than done, I know. But think about how much more focused we could be if we were able to focus our energy on just a few, confidently accomplishable tasks a day. The rest of our time may be spent doing more than just those things, but without the expectations, and to an extent, the unnecessary high stakes we set up for ourselves, we truly are able to get ahead instead of always feeling behind and ridiculously busy.

As always, take this with a grain of salt, as maybe this sort of mindset is a bit too optimistic. Our lives, especially with most of us being students, don't allow for what we may comparatively call the bare minimum in terms of productivity. We've been raised and "prosper" in competitive environments that stress the importance of maximizing time and energy and doing the most when these things typically aren't synonymous with living the lives best suited for our personal, short and long term goals.

But if you're really serious about truth, and I mean really being mentally present for everything you do, it's time to stop allowing yourself to be so swept up in "the next ___," when all it ensures is that you're blinking away this moment.