It’s just how it goes… one day you wake up and suddenly life is in fast forward and you never really notice until you look back. It doesn’t mean you didn’t have fun or you’re not happy… life simply just happened and you weren’t fully aware.
First things first, you need to know that it’s OK and it happens to all of us.
Sometimes we tend to blame ourselves for letting life pass us by. Know this: It’s not your fault. This is such a busy time in your life. This time period is for you to build yourself, grow as a person and find a place for yourself in the world.
Maybe it’s been a year since you’ve hung out with one of your best friends from high school or months since you have visited your grandparents or 6 weeks since you have been to the gym. Maybe you told yourself you were going to leisurely read a book or start doing yoga, but time flies by and you’re nowhere close to doing these things. No matter how small the situation, it hits you like a ton of bricks.
You simply feel like you do not have the time. You feel like you’re doing good just to be squeezing by. Between school, work, and growing up, things just speed up. You live for the deadlines, test dates, work meetings and every time you blink your eyes you’re turning another week in your planner. You come home from school just to go to work or do something for the sorority and then you blink your eyes and it’s 9 p.m. You still need to eat, shower, and do homework and study for your quiz tomorrow and there it goes, another day gone.
Just. Take. Baby. Steps.
When it hits you, don’t try to plan to do everything the next week. It gets so overwhelming and too often this is the solution we try to employ. You can’t catch up with all of your old friends, start going to the gym every day, change your eating habits, visit your family, start a Pinterest “DIY” project and go out to have fun that night all while keeping your grades up and working in the same day. It’s impossible.
Take things one day at a time and try to do one or two things a week. Schedule in days that you don’t have as many classes or work isn’t as heavy to try and fit in different things. You can’t do it all at one time however; it is possible to do it all, little by little. Next week go to the gym one day and call your grandparents walking home from class. The next week if you have some down time, go to a yoga class after work and another day start a few pages in a new book. Then so on, and so on. Write it all down in your agenda to make it part of your daily plan.
We try to do everything on a routine, but it doesn’t always work like that. Next semester your classes will change and your schedule will change, in a few years you will graduate and your life will change, life changes so much between the time you are 18-25 that routine for more than a few months at a time is almost unimaginable. Sometimes you just have to throw in the things that are for YOU. And that make YOU happy. And that make YOU feel good whenever you get the chance. Take everything one step at a time and eventually you will get the things you want to do accomplished. Feeling diminished of time is natural and some way or form we will probably always feel like this.
Time doesn’t stop for anyone, no matter your age, race, religion or socioeconomic status, but fitting in things that make you happy throughout your days helps you to look back on the best days of your life with no regrets.
