Live in the moment

Hello class of 2024 my name is Madison and a graduate here at Oak Hill High School as we have all gathered today with our friends, family, and faculty to celebrate this big milestone in our lives. I would like to thank every one of my friends, family members, and school facility for making it possible for me to thrive through my years in school and get to this point. I would like to congratulate you all for all of your amazing achievements like overcoming covid over the years, we have all grown and spent a lot of time together over our years here. We have faced a lot of adversity like having online learning and minimal social interaction  through covid and quarantine but we still managed to make it. The beginning of my freshman year I thought high school would never end and the next 4 years would take forever. As I navigated the next few years I felt like high school was a waste of time and I for so long just wished it would be over already, I would go to school the next year and the cycle would continue. I got wrapped up in this cycle of wishing all the time away thoughtlessly as if I could just get it back if I wanted, and I always wanted to be one step ahead of where I was at. I did this all the way up until my senior year. I never saw how gray my memories seemed until I had this epiphany and saw more color and life in everything around me, realizing this really brought out how much more things could be. I saw that I wasn’t living in the present moment and realized I needed to change that before it was too late. Like when you’ve been in a hitting slump for 5 games and you get up to bat with bases loaded, 2 outs and you have a full count on you and in that moment it’s all what you make of it. You could wiff it on a rise ball that was at your eyes, golf a ball in the dirt for your third strike to end the game or a home run to win the game, but it’s all up to you. I was always so worried about wanting to be older and having more of this or that, that I lost the importance of living in the moment. Once I started living in the moment it was like seeing a rainbow appear after a storm just came through, it was happy and warm. 

Living in this memory right now is so critical because when you’re counting down to single digit days left of senior year you’re gonna regret all the times you didn’t live in the moment and didn’t soak up the memories. Living in the moment is something you’re always gonna be grateful for because we never know when we are going to see any of these people again. I can say that I regret not just letting go sometimes and taking some of the time I had with my friends and teammates for granted, graduating seemed so far at that time. When you look back on these moments you’re going to be happy and thankful you weren’t so worried about everything else. Once I realized I needed to start living in the moment more and stop wishing time away constantly, I had more fun and worried less about everything else. I soaked up every moment I had with my friends, my family, my teammates and made the best of what I had left. 

Although I do regret not realizing this lesson sooner, I’m glad I at least made the best out of what I still had, but if I had to give advice to anyone of the underclass I would say don’t think that you have forever with this people because you don’t and before you know it you will all be gone your own ways. So take it from me when I say don’t let this special time, the memories, or these moments slip right through your fingers in front of you. Cherish these memories and those around you, and live in the moment. 

“Cap and Gown” by thisgeekredes is licensed under CC BY 2.0.