A recent turn of events has taught me yet again why patience is a virtue few people have. We live in a world of instant gratification. I post a picture on Instagram and within two hours, I have 200 likes. I order food through an app and instantly receive it at my front door step. I send a text to a friend and have a reply within seconds. Every single thing is instant. Every single thing is touch and go. So, it's no wonder we try to rush all other aspects of our lives that should garner our time.

All my life I’ve been hoping and looking for the next stage. When I was in middle school, I couldn’t wait to graduate and go to high school. When I was in high school, I couldn’t wait to graduate and start college. Now that I’m in college, I’m counting down the days until I can be done with classes and start working. We focus so much on the next, on the go, go, go, that we miss the now.

I am a third-year studying advertising and the one thing we talk about the most is being instant. To grab consumers' attention, we need to be quick and to the point. Three words max, lots of colors and tons of empty promises. This is the world we live in. Three-word conversations, colorful realities and an overwhelming amount of emptiness. I don’t know about you, but I want something real.

I used to be very embarrassed by the fact that I wanted to wait for the right person. I used to be fixated on just charging through life. Now, I sit back and relish in patience. In patience to wait for the right person to come along, whoever they may be. In patience to accept that right now, I’m a college student going through the struggle of junior year but I never will be again and I need to enjoy it. I realized that like Ferris Bueller points out, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

That’s true about life. It passes by so quickly. I think back to when I was a freshman starting off and didn’t know a single thing. I know a few more things now, sure, but I’m still learning. I don’t want to miss the lessons life has to teach me; I don’t want to miss the opportunities that come with slow and normal growth. You shouldn’t either.

Just remember, wherever you are in life right now, you never will be again. One day, this situation or age or predicament will pass and it won’t unearth itself again. So look around, smell the flowers and enjoy being you right now exactly where you are because it only comes once in a lifetime.