What happened to being happy right where you are?

Being content in the right now, in whatever season you are in. No matter if it is where you want to be or if it's a long ways off.

In today's world it's so easy to get caught up in what is GOING to happen that we forget to see the beauty in what IS happening.

I know I have gotten caught up in it, especially these last few years.

It's so easy to get caught up in the go, go, go. Lately, I've gotten so caught up in the doing of this and doing of that to make all of my dreams come true that I've forgotten to see the beauty that is my life. The life that I live every single day, right in front of my face.

We get worried about planning our life out and where we want to be in 5-10 years that we forget we are living our life right now, at this exact moment.

I will agree that it is important to have goals, to make plans and to take action upon achieving those goals; it is also important to live in the now.

It's important to accept where you are as where you are for this season. It doesn't have to be where you stay, but it is where you are right now and you should be getting everything out of it that you can.

Things are only bad if we look at them in that perspective. Situations are only what we make them to be.

Which is easier said than done, I know, I struggle with it every day.

But before we know it those 5 years are going to have gone by and while we were so busy planning where we wanted to be at the end, we forgot to live in them.

We forgot to wake up every morning and actually breathe the morning air in-between hurrying to get out the door and quickly passing through the drive through for our morning coffee.

We forgot to see the beauty in the day before us because we were in such a hurry for what tomorrow will bring.

We forgot to enjoy the company around us, at that moment, because we were too busy worrying about who we might meet in our future.

We were too busy scrolling through social media to make eye contact with that stranger right in front of us and exchange a smile.

Our eyes were too busy being glued to our phone to connect with the person next to us on our morning commute and maybe impact someone else's day.

We are so busy waiting for the next best thing to happen, and staying "connected" so that we don't miss it, that we forget that the best place to be is present within our own lives.

We forget to truly live life and make connections in a world where we are able to live life more fully than ever and are constantly connected.

We see other people's "lives" plastered all over and we get stuck on how much we don't have or how much we wish our lives were different that we can't see the beauty that is right in front of our faces.

When was the last time you did something, just for yourself, that you didn't post to some social network for everyone to see?

When is the last time you woke up in the morning and smelled the morning air and truly took a second to be thankful for just waking up?

When was the last time you just enjoyed being alive, instead of worrying about tomorrow and the troubles that aren't even here yet?

I asked myself those very same questions about a month ago, and you know the answers I came up with?

It was actually the same answer for all of them...

I don't know.

I had gotten so wrapped up in what I wanted to happen and where I wanted to go, that I forgot to just be. I forgot to enjoy my here and now. I forgot to enjoy the journey.

You have to learn to enjoy the journey, because eventually you'll come to realize that life is just one giant journey that never really ends.

You never really "arrive" anywhere.

You are constantly on a journey and if you can't learn to enjoy it as it is in that moment, it's going to be one unhappy journey.

And learning to enjoy the moment and be content with where you are, especially if it isn't where you want to be, is hard.

But it's necessary.

So take the time, because yes you in fact DO have the time, and find something beautiful within each experience you have each and every day.

Take the time to step outside every morning and just be.

Take the time to just sit and experience your own presence.

Take the time to look up and smile at the strangers you pass on the street.

Take the time to strike up a random conversation with the guy next to you on your morning commute to work.

Take the time to experience all that life is giving you every single day, take the time to see the beauty that is being alive!

Take the time to fall in love and find happiness with where you are in your life.

And enjoy every single minute of it before it's gone.

Because life passes quickly, and once it's gone you never get it back.

XOXO

~Cassie Ann