Life is too short. It's really that simple. It is far too short to be rushing from high school to college or college to adult life or to marriage or kids. Every stage in life has a time and place, and sometimes I feel as though we forget that. In high school I was so focused on getting to college, on getting away from small town life and being a person beyond all the people that thought they knew everything about me. And I'm here to tell you that is my number one biggest regret in life.
I hated high school, hated every minute of it. But I regret not giving it the chance that it deserved. There are memories that I hold fondly from my time there, but from sophomore year on I was so focused on my next step that I forgot there was a present that deserved the chance to be lived. When we misplace our life focus, everything else starts to seem unimportant. It's okay to have dreams, goals and passions, but it's not okay to let those take you away from the here and the now.
Rushing to the next step of life puts these metaphorical blinders on you and really forces you to keep repeating, "I just need to get to college. I just need to graduate and then I'll be okay." When we do this, we cannot see past our blinders. Everything is so focused forward that we miss the opportunities and the people that lie beyond. We turn down a date with a cute boy because we don't want to get into a relationship before college. I'm here telling you that you really have to take a breath and remove the blinders on your life.
The world is vast, unexplored and will only be the same for one minute, one hour, one day, and you have to live with that in mind. A year will pass in a flash whether you're watching or not, so wouldn't you rather be watching? Being present every moment of everyday is not an easy thing to do. I will admit that sometimes I get to the end of the day and realize that I wasn't present; I was texting too much or too distant. But instead of worrying about that, I embrace it and try to do better the next day. There's really no simple solution to prevent the rushing because honestly sometimes it takes you by surprise. The way I try to avoid it is by focusing on this English class, that French class, this lunch date with my best friend. Live day to day and just focus on tomorrow.
When you rush, the story goes something like mine; I don't have a lot of fond memories of senior year. I do have a few, but my memories are overwhelming shadowed with my desperate need to get out of high school. I turned down opportunities and experiences right and left because I was determined I did not need them, I wouldn't regret it and college would be better. I wish I could go back and slap some sanity into myself because senior year is the best year and the last year before your life drastically changes. And when I woke up my first morning in my college dorm, I felt like I slept through months of my life. It went by so fast, and I didn't realize because I wasn't watching.
Moral of the story is enjoy every single life event, high school, college and post-grad. Every milestone is so important whether the experience is fantastic or even if it sucks. At the end of the day, it's all about perspective. So take the blinders off, focus on the now, live in the present. The minute I stopped rushing, I realized that life is so fragile and so short. Life is beautiful and so worth being lived and embraced completely. So here's to you, senior year of high school. Sorry I didn't live you right. #Blessed I realize that now.
"Opportunities do not wait." – Greek Proverb
Start seizing now and live your life without your blinders. I believe in you.
