Day by Day

Day by Day

It was already past midnight as I sat and listened to my roommate. She only interrupted my math homework to say “hi,” but over an hour and half later there she was. I didn’t mind really, any excuse to avoid math, but what she said bewilders me. There were countless predictions of her life in a year, two years, ten years from now. She had so much planned; so many hopes, and dreams, yet all based on mere possibilities. I have enough difficulty planning out next week, let alone years in the future. As a college student, I’m constantly asked “What’s your major?” or “What do you want to do?” or some similarly phrased question. The fact of the matter is; that I just don’t know. How could I know? Life is like following a path, that’s leading you someplace but you don’t know where. There are turns that no matter how hard you strain your eyes you can’t see around the bend. All I can do is step one foot in front of the other, and enjoy the view. That’s not to say that people shouldn’t plan anything or that the future shouldn’t be taken into consideration. I just think that people are so busy planning tomorrow, that they miss today.

People are constantly bustling about, going here and there. Moving so fast that when they stop they don’t even know how they got there. It happens all the time, like when your driving in the car but your mind wanders elsewhere. To what you need to do later, or work, or family, to anything but the road your driving on. Then, suddenly, you’ve arrived and you don’t remember the ride. You don’t remember making the turns or waiting at the lights. But there’s no time to think about it, you shrug it off and move along. That’s how things are, people are always doing and never simply being. I strive to exist, to enjoy things for what they are. I don’t race around with my head turned down and i-pods blaring in my ears, I don’t shut out the world around me. Rather, I see the places and people, I take in those moments and I appreciate them. All we have is the present, and the present is ever fading into the past.

So, to some people a life without immediate plans and multitasking may sound irresponsible and lazy, but I believe in living life for the here and now. I’m not sure where I will end up, but at least I will know how I got there. I believe life is a journey, not a destination.