The Moment

Good afternoon everyone,

My name is DPlourde and as I stand before you today, I reflect on all the hardships and steps it took me to get here. This was a long four years that entailed not only dedication and hard work but a strong commitment to my moral and educational goals. Throughout my high school years I was dedicated not only to my classes but many different clubs, along with sports and my family. All this time believing that never giving up and backing down was the key to my success. I chased this goal of being perfect, of having me and my time perfectly split between all of my different commitments. I lost sleep, missed get togethers and game nights with my family, all because I wanted to be better. 

In the last few weeks, close to probably the last month, I have come to the realization that that wasn’t it, that isn’t what got me to where I am today. It was the random get-togethers, the game nights, and the sleepless nights not because of my stress and school work but because of staying up playing pointless video games with friends that wouldn’t have any effect on my future. It was these nights and events where my stress and worries were obsolete. It was these situations and these moments where I had no thoughts of school or clubs or what my week looked like, just what was happening then and there. 

I listened to a speech written and presented by Alan Watts, while yes it was dragging and very monotone which I have to admit was boring. There was one line that will stick with me for a very long time. The line was as follows:  “We are always thinking that the satisfaction of life will come later, stop lying to yourself.” The line really kind of just punches you in the face. It really made me look back at my last 4 years and what I missed because of my tunnel vision. I looked back through my camera roll. And my mothers cringey facebook post seeing things that I had completely forgotten existed. Whether it was my family game nights where the dice ended up somehow in the living room when we were playing in the kitchen, or family movie nights where my parents would put in massives amount of effort to insure that the food color matched the main character perfectly and it was all organized with exactly separate spacing just to get ruined by the 20 siblings simultaneously. Both of these examples bring smiles to my faces when looked back upon but deep down I know that during these times I was most likely either down in my room stressing about that one essay, or sitting in my room because of not sleeping in 4 days,  and just not having the energy to socialize. 

It is these types of situations that have not only opened my eyes but made me look at my day to day differently. I used to make my day run off of a solid schedule, but upon discovering all of the things I missed out on because of that I have decided to change that, I now live day by day, hoping that I have a few more laughs than usual, or even a little bit less stress. It has proven to be better to just live in the moment. So if there is anything you get from this speech it is that you need to stop lying to yourself and looking for a future sense of success, but instead put the same amount of effort you do into your future in your today. Everyday is a new chance at a connection and a new chance to make memories that you otherwise would never have had or experienced. Go climb Katahdin, go skydiving, get that silly tattoo that you and your friend have been talking about because one day when you are successful and are required to be in those meetings and have those sleepless nights you regret not doing all those things sooner. Instead of a difficult planning of something, make it a past memory instead. Live in the moment, live day by day and don’t take anything for granted because you are never guaranteed tomorrow. Thank you for your time. 

“Live in the moment” by shawnzrossi is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.