Now is the only time

I went on a hike today to help give my brain some much-needed rest after a week that seemed more challenging than usual.

However, my mind did anything but rest: for the majority of the hike, I continued to fiercely lament about how some recent challenges panned out and tried to proactively think about how I would tackle the week ahead of me.

It wouldn’t be until I got home, just moments ago in fact, that I had a brief existential crisis, wondering to myself: “What am I doing here?”

The past is well and truly gone and the future hasn’t arrived, yet here I was spending the only time that any of us can ever be certain that we’ll have — now, this moment — obsessing over both of them.

My intense focus on these things and subsequent failure to appreciate the beauty of what was right in front of me was ultimately a failure to recognize that this moment isn’t just a good time but the only time to decide to make the most of your life.

This is not to say that life is all sunshine and rainbows or that we should force joy where it isn’t natural or welcome. But consider that it’s normal for the past to present some challenges, and the future to present some worries.

Yet, both these things can be true and you can still make the choice to be happy.