I was recently given a piece of advice that originally flew over my head, until recently. Stop and smell the roses. What does that really mean…and how is it possible to stop when our culture thrives on productivity?
Recently, there have been a lot of chapters closing. For me, that is my freshman year. It is a small shift, and it’s comforting knowing I am able to come back to PSU in just four short months, but for a lot of people, that isn’t the reality, as they are graduating.
I’ve had to say goodbye to many of my graduating friends, and watching them go and reflect on their time here made me realize time stops for no one.
Growing up is truly such an astonishing concept because it felt like seconds ago I was graduating high school, and I blinked and my freshman year of college is done. The scary part is, I know I’m gonna blink and one day I’ll be graduating here too.
All this to say, I’ve come to a realization I didn’t expect: I have no control over getting older, and I definitely have no control over how quickly time seems to pass. The only thing I can control is whether I actually experience my life while it is happening.
I tend to move through life at a relentless pace. My days are packed, balancing school, responsibilities, self-care and a social life. I always try to stay productive and keep busy, but I’ve started to notice a pattern. The second I finish one task, I immediately move on to the next one.
At first, I thought this constant motion was a strength. I felt it was discipline or ambition. However, I soon realized this exact pattern was what was keeping me from being present. I was never savoring the moment of an accomplishment or enjoying the moment in front of me because I was always thinking about the next thing, and because it can sometimes feel like I’ll experience all these moments again.
However, with the closing of the year, I’ve realized how fragile time really is. You never get any of these moments back. Once they pass, they’re gone, and that realization has been uncomfortable but grounding.
It’s made me think about how often I’ve treated experiences as replicable, like there might always be another hangout with a friend or walk around campus. While it is true that life continues, the exact version of a moment never repeats itself. The people change, the circumstances shift and so do you.
That’s what makes being present so important. Not every moment is significant, but that doesn’t make it meaningless. I’ve stopped treating aspects of my life as something that’s always gonna be there, and this has allowed me to slow down.
The life I am living right now is the life I used to dream about in high school, and because of this, I realized it’s important to let a moment linger and last a little longer. This allows me to fully appreciate it instead of rushing past it.
Time is fleeting, and we are constantly evolving, whether we notice it or not. So why rush through it? Let moments linger.
Stop and smell the roses; often enough, you can truly say you were present, not just going through the motions but living.