I’ve found the past to be the least helpful for my happiness. Looking towards the future can feel encouraging or even invigorating: looking forward to something upcoming can be exciting. But there’s a mania associated with such anticipation that doesn’t allow us to enjoy the most important timeframe for happiness and contentment: now. I hope to refocus my emphasis on enjoying the present, as I’ve slipped recently. But I also know the most profound moments of my life, whether during conversation, physical exertion, or deep introspection, have all occurred when I’ve been living within the fleeting present moment. It offers clarity, and the only fully true embrace of this thing we call life.