The Courage of the Present

Past. Present. Future. The few words that describe our existence. In between each word are events that will happen once. Past Memories, present moments, and future dreams. Each phrase means something to us. We choose to accept or not accept the past because there is nothing that we can do about it. But what does that mean for our present and future? Do our present days get better, and do our dreams come true? Why is it that we never pay attention to the present? The future always encompasses us, because no matter what we do, we always stress about the not-yet-promised tomorrow. “Will we get the acceptance

email?” “Will they text me back?”

We are scared of the present because of the way it drowns us in the feeling of raw emotion. We want the ill moment to go away, praying the universe will show grace and mercy to a more promised dream.

But here’s the truth: we can only change our perspective on the present to get a different outcome in the future.

That present emotion is not always the same. Sometimes it feels like a fresh wound that was cured open; other times, it's an overwhelming feeling because we haven’t felt it in a while (it could be either good or bad).

Our minds are always sprinting from sitting in what once was. We fidget, we escape, we fill it with other substitutions and distractions to take us away from the present. We give ourselves false hope, with the feeling of more to come. We leave with open scars, and they continue to bleed into that “tomorrow”. We never patch, we never heal, we never communicate, shoot, we never just sit in it. We wash it away in the shower,we sleep it away on the tear-filled pillow, but we never actually think. We never actually jump into that state of volume, where it surrounds us. We all get that warm burning feeling when we feel as if we've taken in too much.

We refuse to submerge ourselves, and we jump out to catch our breath before we even lose it. We shake it off and try to push forward, but no matter how much we go into the future, the now past and used to be present becomes apparent.

Learn to submerge. Learn to feel pain. Learn to stand still. The future is not promised; the neglected past that was once present will always catch up before you realize it.

Edited by: Marina Lemoni