We’ve all been guilty of it – first you’re 10 years old waiting to turn 13 to be finally be a teenager; then you’re 13 wishing that you were 16 so that you could finally drive a car and not have to worry about your parents picking you up and dropping you off. Before you know it, you’re 18 years old wishing you were 21 so that you can have that first legal drink and go to the bars with all of your friends. Even in college, after you have turned 21 and hit most of the big life milestones, I will hear people say that they cannot wait to finally graduate and find their future spouse and buy that white picket fence house and have children. However, this wishful thinking doesn’t stop with wishing we were older. You hear and say these things in everyday life – I wish I was done class, or I wish I would’ve ate healthier today, just to name a few. Now, don’t get me wrong, I sometimes do these things too, but the question is: When does it stop? When do we all stop wanting and wishing our lives away and truly bask in what is taking place around us right here and now? When do we finally say to ourselves, okay, I am not 16 or 21 or 35 , but I am going to embrace this age and all of the positives and negatives that come with it. When do we start truly living in the moment?

Now, I feel as though it is human nature to want and wish for everything – to want things to pan out differently, or to be that year or two older to finally take part in things that we couldn’t have before. However, should we be living this way? Maybe instead of focusing on everything we don’t have right now in this moment, we should focus on what we can do to make our current lives more fulfilling. Eat the doughnut that you know you want despite the fact that it might not be the healthiest. Enjoy the fact that you may not be able to drive right now because soon you will have to pay for gas and worry about having a reliable car. There are positives and negatives to every age and situation, so make the most out of it now. Find out what it is that you love to do and go out and actually do it just because it makes you happy. Keep persevering, especially in college when you reach those points where it feels like you can’t do it anymore. See everything through because someday you will get to that point that you’ve always wished and hoped for, and you just might realize that you missed out on truly enjoying all of those wonderful little quirks. And then maybe by doing this, we will all find out that this is the true meaning of life – to truly be happy with what is happening right here and now, and to embrace this time with everything in us.