Pinning pretty wedding dresses on Pinterest, naming your future kids, thinking far ahead at your future career and where you want to live, planning your whole life out years ahead of time, endless thoughts wondering if the plans will work out, figuring out the perfect dog for you and your family before you even have one: Although these things are fun and can be important, we’re missing out on the now.

“Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans.” – John Lennon. Even though it’s great to think ahead, sometimes we do it too often. God blessed us with a life and it seems that we aren’t enjoying it as much as we should. Not everyone is blessed with a long life. At any time, our life on earth could end. When we look on the actions we’ve made, are we really happy with the outcome?

I’m the type of person to think deep into my future yet regrets the things that I didn’t do in the past when I had the opportunity. There have been numerous times I’ve missed out on late night drives, ice cream runs with my friends and even a week of camping. While my friends were out having fun and living their best lives, I was at home, in bed and miserable. I regret hiding myself away when I could have been spending time with them and having a good time. I obviously “fixed” this problem by realizing everything would be okay when my future comes around. This obviously wasn’t very much of a fix, though. If anything, it made the issue worse. I hadn’t realized I was the one making myself sad and unmotivated. I never saw the good in what was going on around me because I was too focused on my future plans and goals. I never had the motivation to attend anything happening in the now. I wasn’t grateful for the things I had and didn’t show thankfulness. It was a continuous cycle of excitement, missing out and regret.

I remember listening to the song Vienna by Billy Joel. I didn’t quite get what he was saying at first. But then, I looked hard at the lyrics. “Slow down you crazy child” and “you can’t be everything you wanna be before your time”. He’s saying we need to slow down because we just get old if we’re going too fast. This was the start of how I began living in the now. Focus on the present and make goals to lead up to what you want. Your time will come, but patience is the key.

I encourage everyone to start putting more focus on the present and what is going on around you  right now. I know sometimes thinking of the future distracts from the negative things going on in the present, but we can at least try focusing on the good things in life we are blessed with rather than being so pessimistic. Nobody wants to live what feels to be a short life, yet that’s what’s happening. Life is not long. It’s passing you by right now, every second. We always hear, “the past is in the past” so let’s keep it there. The future will happen eventually, so be as patient as you can and wait for it to come. You will never get this time back. “Get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’” -The Shawshank Redemption. This may sound harsh, but it’s true. Don’t be selfish. Don’t miss out on those crazy, fun nights with friends. You will look back and want the time that you wasted back. Focus on the now.