Where Life Truly Happens

Elizabeth Smith ’29

We live in a world full of distractions. Constant noise, endless scrolling, and a thousand versions of ourselves that could be true. Surrounded by imagined realities, it's easy to forget to actually live in the one in front of us. To slow down enough to feel the memories that shape your life. Many of us spend our days regretting and replaying old mistakes, or worrying about what’s gonna happen next. Somewhere along the way, we forget that the beauty of life lives within learning to be comfortable with the uncomfortable—because uncertainty is unavoidable.

It’s okay to not know what comes next. It’s okay to not understand the impact of your actions right away. Life rarely reveals its purpose in the moment; sometimes clarity only occurs after you’ve lived it. That’s what makes the moment so important. So… meaningful. But the dangerous thing is getting stuck in the past. Holding onto yesterday so tightly that you forget to hold onto today. Time doesn’t wait for us. It doesn’t slow down for us to catch up. It moves on with or without our permission, and if we’re not present, entire chapters of our lives can be missed without us ever really living in them. So don’t worry about that test. Or that friend that you grew apart from. There is a place for you, and a place for me. But you’ll never get there without moving on.

So be here, now. Pay attention to the moments that feel small, because they become the memories you’ll reach for later. Let yourself breathe, let yourself feel, and let yourself exist without rushing towards some distant version of yourself. Life isn’t waiting somewhere far ahead. It’s happening at this exact moment. So live in it, because this moment is the only time where life truly happens.