Looking Up

​We live in an extremely connected world now a days. So extremely connected, in fact, that we can almost live vicariously/virtually through others in every aspect of life. With Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, we can practically share any and every little thing we do throughout the day if we want to. We can post photos of our food to share meals with others, we can post Snapchat stories on the hour, every hour, of our current situations and we can post an Instagram photo of our daily highlight. Essentially, if we wanted to, we could post so much that we could make the question, "What did you do today?" irrelevant.

With so much posting, sharing and texting these days, it's easy to become so 'connected' that we become disconnected with everything/everyone else. It's easy to get so caught up in trying to capture a moment through the lense of a device that we miss the moment itself in its reality. We can become so focused on sharing our experience virtually with the World Wide Web that we miss the experience ourselves. After all, experiences are about experiencing something, not just sharing it on the Internet.

Last night, I went to a concert, and for the first time at a concert, I didn't take a photo, I didn't take a video and I didn't take anything to post to social media. I just 'sat back and enjoyed the show,' as they say. It was nice, and then, today, something amazing happened. I realized, for some strange reason, when people asked me in person how the concert was, I had much more to say about it than usual. It was like I had no photos or videos to show for it, so I had to recreate the shows sites, sounds and moments in my head and replay them for the person asking about it. Surprisingly, it seemed to come to life in my mind, and I was able to describe it better than normal. Now, I don't know if this was because it was an amazing concert or if it really was because I enjoyed the moment more than before, I'm just saying there was definitely a difference.

I'm not sure if there's something to be said for being too connected to our technology that we miss reality, but I do believe that there's something ​to be said for missing moments when were preoccupied with reliving other people's moments in the palms of our hands. Don't miss reality. Be present and enjoy it.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Look up.

The 'Present' is a Gift; Enjoy it

It's easy to remember the past, easy to stress about the future and hard to focus on the present. It's easy to reflect on past memories, both good and bad, and realize things could always be better or worse. It's stressful to think about the future and how things may or may not play out; However, why is it so difficult to just focus on the present?

Nostalgia seems like it can take over at every blink of the eye. It takes over the mind with thoughts of past friendships, memories, successes and failures, and it almost always leaves with the "What if?" question. The past is easy to go back to because it's already happened. It's an easy place the mind often goes to when it wants to escape from stress.

On the other hand, however, the mind spends a lot of time dwelling on the future, which in turn, creates stress. It's like a never ending cycle. I'll often find myself day-dreaming away about what could be, would be and should be, and I become consumed with future thoughts that do nothing but stress me out because I believe the only way things can unfold correctly is the way in which I think think them up (stress about) in my head. Focusing on the future leads to stress, and stress leads to nostalgia. The future and the past are not where we should be; we should be in the present.

Staying in the present is easier than said than done. Sure, it's easy to physically be somewhere, but how much harder is it to mentally be there? It's much easier to check out than it is to check in and focus. When's the last time you were fully invested into a conversation without wondering what was for lunch, how many missed texts you had or whether or not the person you're talking to is almost finished talking?

Dwelling on the past and stressing about the future rob the present. It's not wrong to reminisce on old memories, but don't do it so much that you miss the opportunities to make new ones. With that in mind, don't get so worked up about the future that you forget to take care of the present so the future can happen.

"Wherever you are, be all there."

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Don't be so nostolgic that it robs you of future opportunites to be nostolgic.