Picture this: you’re sitting around the fireplace of your college house’s living room. You’re plopped on the couch in your comfies, a blanket lying across your lap. Each of your roommates is balancing a plate of makeshift dinner on their lap and giggling between bites. Olivia Dean is flooding the room from a speaker left playing in the kitchen. The fire is illuminating the familiar faces of your friends. One of them references an inside joke, and everyone bursts out in laughter. You’re laughing so hard that your stomach hurts. You think about how perfect the moment is. Then, you can’t help but notice that next year, none of it will be the same. Suddenly, the overwhelming love and comfort you were feeling is accompanied by a bitter aftertaste. 

Why is it that the moments which bring us the most joy are the ones we can’t help but get distracted from? They are a gateway for anxiety and worry to creep in. It feels like acknowledging just how good something feels cannot happen without also acknowledging that it can’t last forever. The two coexist.  

I like to think I live in the moment. I focus on the people in front of me, am spontaneous with what life gives me and am as present as I can be. What I am coming to realize, however, is the moments when I feel the most present are the same moments that make me long for time to freeze. They bring with them a bit of heartache and frustration. Life progresses, and there’s nothing we can do about it.  

The more we try to live in the moment, the more aware we become of how quickly time moves. Enjoying experiences comes at a cost. The more conscious we are of the moment we exist in, the more aware we are that it won’t last forever. 

It’s rather ironic. As I have come to recognize this phenomenon, I have attempted to make peace with it.  

Change is scary. The recognition of how quickly time flies is scarier. These emotions increase as we live in the moment, but they should not stop us from doing so. Rather, it is more important to live in the moment and enjoy every day we get. The only way to relieve the discomfort that fleeting moments bring us is to live them as vividly as we can. 

I challenge you to be more present this week. Find moments and interactions you will miss when your days at Creighton are over. Recognize them, express gratitude for them and do not let them pass you by.