Stop counting down the minutes until your last class lets out. Stop praying for the week to fly by so Friday can come. Stop counting down the days until summer. Stop counting down and start living in the moment.

I recently came across the following quote which I believe is extremely profound:

"Sometimes we're all too quick to count down the days that we forget to make the days count."

We don't realize how much of our everyday lives we miss out on because we were "too busy" thinking about something in the future. Now don't get me wrong, it's always good to look forward to something, but my mom always tells me that I'm wasting my life away counting down the days until... Imagine that, being told you're wasting your life waiting for Friday, or a concert at the end of the summer, or summer in general. My attention to detail became less apparent as I was not focusing on what truly mattered- every day.

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And to the seniors in high school right now, this message is directed towards you. You have thought about your graduation day since the moment you stepped foot in your high school--I did too. But stop counting down those days until graduation. Enjoy your last two months in high school, enjoy your prom, and other senior year events, because before you know it, it’s the night before or the day of graduation, and you will feel reluctant, you will be leaving your second home where you have spent the last four years. You may not want to sit in class longer than you have to because senioritis has kicked in, but the little time you have left sitting in the classroom as a senior, you could make a difference, you can make someone's day and/or make your own day. What do you mean by this?

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You may feel there's nothing more exhilarating than looking forward to something in the near future. However, by doing this you are not really focusing on and enjoying the moment. You should relish each day that you spend with family and friends who crossed your path that day. Rushing the days by when you can go to the beach, or to a concert that you bought the tickets to several months in advance, doesn’t allow you appreciate the little things that made a difference that day. Focus on the present, and stop counting down the days until...

So what? you're probably asking me. My point is simple, quit the habit of counting down to the days of an event, because you will miss an opportunity or a day that you will look upon as a significant day, but you didn’t realize how significant the day was as you were too focused on the future. Don’t take anything or anyone for granted, but appreciate even the slightest things because you never know what life has in store for you.