When I was in 7th grade, I visited New York City for the first time. After that trip, I came home and went online to print the 40 page NYU application. At that point, I was ready to embrace the future and forget about the present.
Once I got to college, I realized that while it might be one of the best times of my life, it is also one of the most difficult. So, there I sat again, looking forward to the future. Crossing off the days on my calendar, and excited to get through the next.
When did life become about getting through just this one day, this one week, this one time of our lives?
Although eager seniors might exclaim “I just want to graduate already”, they are missing out on the present. They are skipping by the people around them. They are wishing away what might be the most carefree time they will truly ever have.
Wishing away the present means walking away from your favorite teacher who allows you refuge in their classroom. It means no longer getting them a cute Christmas card every year before break. It means not hearing them say good morning or wish you a great rest of your day.
Wishing away the present means saying goodbye to the ones who have stood by your side the longest. It means making yourself warm soup when you’ve caught your yearly cold. It means tear soaked hugs and “see ya later’s”. It means as much as you want it to, your relationship will never quite be the same.
Wishing away the present means taking on a responsibility that sometimes slaps you across the face—and I don’t mean lightly. It means relying on your own bank account for food and that extra sweatshirt you just had to have. It means taking the elevator with your laundry basket once a week and breaking out your own vacuum.
Only looking forward to the future means sacrificing the things you take for granted every day in the present.
I had a teacher who once busted into my 11th grade classroom with his students, who were all seniors. They each held a single red rose in their hand and they approached all of us, making us stop what we were doing and smell the roses they held.
His point, while a funny way of going about it because they were all fake roses, was important for all of us 11th graders. We were about to enter the year when, “I just want to graduate already” was a popular saying. We didn't think about anything besides our futures.
So if you catch yourself saying this, at whatever grade or point of life you are in, don’t constantly focus on the future. Stop to smell the roses—even if they are plastic. One night, you’ll be holding your diploma in your hand and saying goodbye to everything you once knew. One night, you will have graduated and life will have gone by too fast.
