‘Carpe Diem’, ‘YOLO- You Only Live Once’, ‘Sieze the day’: these are all familiar sentiments that can be heard in society today. All of these sentiments speak of the same thing, living for now. Living in the moment and not letting opportunity pass you by.
One thing that stuck out to me in our reading this week was when the author of “Learning to Love the New Media” James Fallows mentioned President Barack Obama’s answer to a question. The question was what surprised the president the most about the actual work of being president. Obama’s answer intrigued me, he answered that he was surprised how focused the news cycle in Washington was focused on what happens this moment, rather than focusing on the long term.
Could this way of thinking be harmful to ourselves? Are we crippling ourselves into just living in our own short-term bubbles, seeking momentary thrills and short-term fixes?
I certainly do not have all the answers, and I have not figured out everything there is to life; however, I do think our society has been so focused on “living in the moment”, so to speak, that we have placed taboo on preparing for distance futures.
One of my favorite quotes that I often try to live by was said by Og Mandino, “Work as though you would live forever, and live as though you would die today.”
In a world that is constantly focused on today, it’s nice to remember every once and a while that there will be a tomorrow.