“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” Ferris Buller’s Day Off.  

Life has no pause button. 

I am astonished at how fast my life has gone by, it is insane that I am going to be a senior next year. 

I have never paused and looked around.  We tend to look to the future, fantasizing about what we could have, but we never take a moment to center ourselves in the present and look around. 

This year, as I prepared for senior year, I was able to reflect on my past self and I wish that I would not have idolized the future but stayed in the moment. 

The moments that I wish I would have cherished most would be from middle school. It was an awkward time, but it had the fondest moments from my pre-teen years. 

Although I do cringe when I look back at old pictures, I can’t help but smile. I wish that I would have worried less about my distant high school career and focused on the worry-free life I had.

It was my last chance to be a kid. 

As I continue throughout my high school journey I am trying to change because I know that once I become an adult, I will regret not living my free teenage years. I will regret not singing “Tongue Tied” at the top of my lungs while driving or enjoying summer nights with friends. 

I am going to enjoy the present. 

Living in the moment has been something prominent in our new normalcy. In the midst of the new reality, I have found myself regretting taking activities before the pandemic for granted. 

The pandemic has taught me that life is not always guaranteed to be “normal”. It has taught me how so much change in so little time. Before the pandemic, I never looked around at what I had in front of me. 

I did not see anything special in being able to have mask-free hangouts or sing my heart out at a crowded concert. That seemed so normal to me, I thought that it would stay that way forever. Instead of dwelling over the past, I have started enjoying small things like outdoor walks instead of fantasizing about life after Covid-19. 

If we stay in that future daydream for too long we will lose our footing on the present and hurt ourselves thinking about what we lost.  

Although it is tough, we have to focus on the present to avoid that hopelessness. 

Whether it be small like a drive with friends or big like getting a new job, everything in the present should be celebrated; even right now when excitement seems nonexistent. If we find a way to appreciate the present we can withstand drastic changes that come our way.

Special moments are temporary.

If we don’t take in those moments, they will disappear. We will be left with damaging regret.  This summer, take in the sunshine, memories with friends, and most importantly look around

The future will come when it’s time.