Food for thought

Over the years I have come to realise something very important about day-to-day living. The fact that it is, in fact, day-to-day. Each day is a new day and must be treated as such.

But there’s a problem with this. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed as I’ve grown up, it’s that there simply aren’t enough hours in a day. We get caught up in study and Netflix and work and suddenly there is nothing of the day left.

One day is technically twenty four hours. Technically. But at least eight of that is spent sleeping. Another few hours is spent between tasks, getting ready and procrastinating. For many, work or school takes up many more hours of the day. So taking all that into account, what are we left with? How do we truly live when it seems there is no time to?

We make the time count.

It isn’t as easy as that, I know from experience. But it is so much easier than people make it out to be. Living in the moment is absolutely the most important part of our existence, this I believe.

One of my favourite quotes is one I heard on Kung Fu Panda, spoken by Master Oogway:

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery. But today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.”

Each day I constantly remind myself to live in the now, to experience things while I can and not think too hard about the future because it is still a mystery. It is in the process of being formed by my current actions.

When I look back on my past, on my history, I want to be glad I took the opportunities I did, glad that I truly made every experience the best it could be.

And so this is what I believe: Each new day is a chance to reinvent yourself, to create new opportunities and to push the boundaries. But a prerequisite for this is living in the moment and eradicating the fear that your actions will not create the future the way you want it.

After all, your actions paint your future and cement your past.