I don’t know about you, but I am starting to feel the toll the semester is taking on me. Halfway points are hard to define, since you’re done with the first half, yet you still have to complete just as much as you previously did. In the eyes of a pessimist (like me), you see the glass as being half empty and the pot of A’s over the rainbow seems so close, yet so far. But maybe for some of you, and I am beginning to feel this way myself, you think you are at a crossroads in your life. This time of year is not just filled with midterms and nicer weather, but internship angst and graduation anxiety. While I am not graduating this year, I am feeling conflicted over wanting to get through the semester as fast as possible, yet knowing I’ll lose some of my friends to graduation.
Even though at times I wonder if I am bipolar, my internal dilemma involves wondering what internship I’ll receive in Washington, D.C. and the personal sadness I have for losing a good chunk of my friends. It is a tug of war between the past, present and future, as I am anxiously anticipating what the power of politics has to offer, yet reminding myself of what it is that makes this place: my friends.
I am still trying to cope with the fact that I won’t be able to spend four hours in car driving to and from Binghamton with my noble chauffeur, who happens to be one of my best friends at Binghamton. It is those surprisingly little things that we initially take for granted that end up becoming some of the happiest times that we can think of. I never realized how much I could look forward to talking for hours while driving down Route 17, without ever worrying when we’ll get home.
I think this example serves as an analogy throughout the course of our lives, which brings me to the idea of “the power of now.” I know that sounds like something out of some life-help video, but I think it holds an important point. I have come to realize that all we have in this world is the present, and what we do with it is up to us because that is all we can control. We cannot change the past or bend the future at our own whim, but what we can do is modify what we are doing now with the hope that the future will turn out for the better.
This probably sounds rather simple and obvious, but in this day and age of iPhones, Blackberries, cell phones, e-mail and Facebook, it is hard to not be bombarded with constant reminders of what we should do next or what is waiting to be accomplished, which is why “the power of now” is that much more important. All that we must remember is that those books and papers that are waiting to be read and written will get done, as long as we are focused on the task at hand.
So while most people will look forward to tanning in Miami Beach or sunning themselves in Cancun this spring break, I will remind myself to enjoy being in the car with my best friend (and chauffeur) for one last time this spring break before she graduates, while trying to make the most of what we have right now.