Winter break is over; the excitement and joy of seeing our families have gone, along with the great anticipation of going home. But not to worry, there are plenty of more things to anticipate. There are midterms looming, you have to meet your friends at lunch, there is homework due, grades back, going out, spring break, and summer plans. The list is endless; so much so that there simply isn’t time to live in the present. When you look back on your time at GW, will you remember the first flurries of snow that descended on campus on a Tuesday afternoon, or the warm smile of a sorority sister walking by on your way to class? Chances are, probably not.
In some ways, these are all aspects of our day that we are too busy to really notice. At times I truly believe that we can only enjoy our present experiences when we look back at them from the vantage point of the future. It’s a rather sad idea when you think about it. How often do you savor the moment, live in the now? Can you really pin-point a single moment in the span of the day when you’re not anticipating some future event? Think hard about a time when you are truly living in the present.
For me, those moments are rare. Perhaps it occurs in the few minutes between the time I wake up and the time I need to get out of bed in the morning. I am all consumed by the warmth of my bed, the freshness of the morning, the stillness of the hour… and then anticipation strikes and my carriage turns back into a pumpkin- hurry up can’t be late for class, if I don’t eat breakfast I am going to be hungry later- the chatter in my head drowns out the magic of the morning.
But is this healthy? Should we really be living in anticipation? If the answer is no, how would we even begin to think about living in the moment? Our days here at GW are extremely jam-packed– full of classes, athletics, homework and extracurricular activities. I don’t know that I can think of a moment in my hectic day that I really have the time to sit down and live in the moment. There is constant chaos. And even when I’m not actually doing something productive, which happens rather often considering how wonderfully I have mastered the art of procrastination, I am worrying about the future. I worry about the homework I have to complete for class the next day, the article I have to write for the end of the week, the internship application deadlines that I have to meet; it never ends. Sometimes I even anticipate the feeling when my head can touch the softness of my pillow and my mind can finally rest. I am constantly robbing myself of the present happiness I am experiencing in the time still remaining. The reality of my day is usually consumed with anticipations of one form or another, which begs me to question how different my life would be in the absence of anticipation.
I have concluded that it’s simply impossible that I am the only person that can relate to this concept. I am sure many of you are experiencing this same, frustrating reality. The problem is, even if we do recognize that our lives are wholly consumed in anticipation and we never actually embrace the present, do any of us really know how to live in the moment? I’ve considered this idea for some time now, and I still don’t know the answer. How do I live in the present?
Is it even possible to live exclusively in the present, savoring the every moment of our days? I don’t know if I truly understand what that even means. Does it mean being completely rooted in the present, not dwelling over the past, not wishing “if only” for the future? The past is gone and unchangeable. The future never really comes, and the present, well it’s always the present. So why am I incapable of enjoying what is happening right now? Sure, there are times when I recognize that I am really fully experiencing the now, but other times it is evident that I am not. Is that bad? Should I always be living in the present, or is balance key?
Perhaps no one has actually mastered the art of living in the now. Maybe we can only experience the present in the future—that is, looking back on an event and analyzing it after it happens. So please consider everything I’ve said, and if you come to any sort of conclusion, let me know. But for now, I want to end with a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson: “We are always getting ready to live but never living.” Make sure this doesn’t happen to you.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at GWU chapter.