I have recently returned home after studying abroad in Seoul, South Korea, for four months, and of all the things I learned from that experience the most important is something that I already knew before leaving: live while you can. For my obligatory reflection of my study abroad, I hate to be cliche, but I have to be if I want to be true.
I had been introduced to the idea of living while one can in middle school, but it was in high school when I finally learned to appreciate this philosophy. For years, I had taken small baby steps to live by this life motto. I quit certain things in order to pursue other, greater things. I had done things that I shouldn't haven done only for the sake of carpe-ing diems. I had tried my best to embrace the free-spirited attitude of the YOLO ideals, but it wasn't until I was halfway across the world — not knowing how to speak the native language and having never traveled outside the USA — that I finally learned how to live while I can.
While abroad, I finally learned how to no longer obsess over academics, the future and all other stress-inducing responsibilities. I finally learned how to just let it all go and how to live better. It took me nearly six years to realize how to live by this life philosophy of living while one can, yet I had told myself that I had been living this way for all that time. While abroad, I had finally learned how to live how I wanted to live for the past six years of my life.
Yes, I may have camped out and slept underneath a bridge for a whole night and may have bought nearly 30 pairs of socks while abroad, but it was all in the name of finally living while I can. I went to an adult park of erotic sculptures, accidentally spent a few nights in a love motel and threw up in a bush all because I was living while I could — finally.
This study abroad made me abandon the high-school me — too timid to not just seize this day but every day. It took me four months of separation from my family, friends, home university, job, pets and everything else for me to finally learn how to live while I can, and I have never been more grateful for one singular experience.
Now, I'm not saying that you should drop all of your responsibilities. You shouldn't forget about everything you have and everything you have to do, but you should forget everything once in awhile. And you should remember to live while you can and then actually live like that.
You don't need to go to Korea in order to live like this. All you need to do is 1) remember to live actively, and 2) do just that. It is finally the time to live while you can.
