*The countdown
I love to hate the countdown.
I have an app on my phone that I can plug any date into, put a label on it, and add a pretty picture. I tells me exactly how many weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds it will be until that point.
Sometimes, it's my lifeline.
I have spent the last year contemplating the countdown. I started it last February while counting down to the road trip my dad and I were to take. Then it was graduation. Then the start of college. Next, I looked foreward to my family visiting, then thanksgiving. And finally, Christmas. I counted down hardcore for Christmas.
An entire year has flown by since that first countdown. Hundreds of days, thousands of hours, and countless memories have been logged. I value that time immensley. Yet, during my break, I had to stop. I had to take a minute to reveiw the last semester, and think about the one that was coming up. I realized that I had spent so much time counting down that I had missed my opportunity to value the time that I was there. I missed so many opportunities to enjoy the little things that I have been SO. INCREDIBLY. BLESSED. with. I spent my days looking at the calendar, wishing weeks to just slip by. Sure, I was homesick. I missed my family, my friends, and the structure I had lived in for the past 4 years. I'm not exagerating when I say that the countdown was my most consistent friend. It served as a reminder that all I had to do was wait through the seconds, and home would eventually come.
During that moment, I promised myself that I would no longer focus on the countdown. I did not want to live another semester in wait. I didn't want to live only for the next time I would get to see my family and friends back home. I knew that if all I did was focus on the next break, or next exciting adventure, I would waste my life waiting for greener pastures. That's just not how I want to live.
So, I've spent this semester intentionally searching out ways to enjoy and remember each day. And instead of counting down to the next time, I'm counting up all the wonderful days I have gotten to experience so far.
Now, this sounds great, but [plot twist] it doesn't always work like I would want it to. Somedays, I have to pull out the app, and remind myself that there are lots of things back home I'm looking forward to. And I'm okay with that. Most of the time.
♥Lea
I have an app on my phone that I can plug any date into, put a label on it, and add a pretty picture. I tells me exactly how many weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds it will be until that point.
Sometimes, it's my lifeline.
I have spent the last year contemplating the countdown. I started it last February while counting down to the road trip my dad and I were to take. Then it was graduation. Then the start of college. Next, I looked foreward to my family visiting, then thanksgiving. And finally, Christmas. I counted down hardcore for Christmas.
An entire year has flown by since that first countdown. Hundreds of days, thousands of hours, and countless memories have been logged. I value that time immensley. Yet, during my break, I had to stop. I had to take a minute to reveiw the last semester, and think about the one that was coming up. I realized that I had spent so much time counting down that I had missed my opportunity to value the time that I was there. I missed so many opportunities to enjoy the little things that I have been SO. INCREDIBLY. BLESSED. with. I spent my days looking at the calendar, wishing weeks to just slip by. Sure, I was homesick. I missed my family, my friends, and the structure I had lived in for the past 4 years. I'm not exagerating when I say that the countdown was my most consistent friend. It served as a reminder that all I had to do was wait through the seconds, and home would eventually come.
During that moment, I promised myself that I would no longer focus on the countdown. I did not want to live another semester in wait. I didn't want to live only for the next time I would get to see my family and friends back home. I knew that if all I did was focus on the next break, or next exciting adventure, I would waste my life waiting for greener pastures. That's just not how I want to live.
So, I've spent this semester intentionally searching out ways to enjoy and remember each day. And instead of counting down to the next time, I'm counting up all the wonderful days I have gotten to experience so far.
Now, this sounds great, but [plot twist] it doesn't always work like I would want it to. Somedays, I have to pull out the app, and remind myself that there are lots of things back home I'm looking forward to. And I'm okay with that. Most of the time.
♥Lea
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