I once read a quote that said:

“Stop waiting for Friday, for summer, for someone to fall in love with you, for life. Happiness is achieved when you stop waiting for it and make the most of the moment you are in now.”

These words struck me the moment I read them. They told me exactly what I needed to hear: stop waiting.

I knew I was caught in the cycle of waiting. Waiting for the weekend. Waiting for holidays. Waiting for summer. I knew I was constantly making countdowns like five days until spring break or three weeks until my birthday, one week until my tests are done or two weeks until I see my family. The truth of these countdowns though is that they were causing me to live in the future. I was trying to make the clock tick faster and the best part of my day was crossing it off to mark it as finished. The saddest part of this realization is that I told myself if I made it to through these next few days, weeks, months, I would be ok and life would be happy again. It was those anticipated days and little countdowns that helped me get through the monotonous days.

Some don’t see such a problem with looking forward to upcoming events or counting down the days until an awaited moment. I don’t see a problem with it either. But when our life revolves around waiting and crossing off the days in our calendars, there is no contentment in the here and now; there is no purpose to everyday life. Always looking to the future prevents us from seeing what’s right in front of us, the people standing there, and the opportunities that need to be taken. Sure the awaited date arrives and life is finally upbeat again, but then it ends just like that. Leaving me to simply start another countdown.

I wish I could say I own the attitude of living every day as if it’s my last, to wake up and start each day with a clear purpose and charisma. But let’s be honest, that’s hard and not completely realistic. Some days are just difficult and need to end as quickly as they began. I think if we dropped the countdowns and stopped waiting for Friday we would see each day as its very own. We would view the days as days filled with lessons to learn, people to love, and opportunities to seize. Suddenly, happiness won’t come in 15 days. It will come every day because we will be aware of the full potential the day has to offer. Life won’t seem monotonous, but bright, changing, and eventful. If we stop waiting for Friday, we might just be able to make the most of the moments we live in right now.