Taking a Step Back
I remember when I was seven. I had two worries: catching cooties on the playground and whether or not I had a pizza lunchable. I thought my life was rough, filled with arguments, parents, early bedtimes, and groundings that plagued my youth. I remember always looking forward to the day when I would be one year older, a time when everything would be perfect. There would be no stress, no worries, and I could do whatever I wanted.
It seems that every time I think I have things figured out, I am presented with a new issue and more stress to deal with. Life is constantly moving faster than me, and I miss out on important moments as I struggle to keep up. At the time I don’t realize what I am missing, but once I take a step back, a second to reflect on what I have done in life, it all comes back, and I realize what I have missed.
I am eighteen now, and I am still waiting for that perfect day to come. I no longer worry about catching cooties and having pizza lunchables, but now I have more worries than just two. I have come to realize that I will always have stress in my life. I will always find something wrong with my current situation, and the perfect day will never come. It has taken me eighteen years to learn that the best day is the one I am currently living; although tomorrow may fix one problem, it will also present a different set of problems.
Sometimes I sit and reflect on the days when I was young. I refer to these days as the golden days, because I had no homework, no job, and school was a time to see friends and play on the playground. Although I remember that I hated being young I know now that those were my best years, the years where I didn’t have to worry. I feel I wasted that time of my life thinking how great tomorrow would be, only to find out it presented its own set of problems. If I had had the knowledge that I do now, each day would have been as precious as gold. I would have viewed each day as a perfect day, a day without worries.
I believe in taking a step back, in slowing my life down and enjoy it as it is. I believe the best time is the present, and in living each day as so. I am all too quick to think that the future is going to bring something better, and I forget to cherish my current life. I have learned that the idealistic perfect day is just a cliché, because today is already perfect.