Living Life In The Moment,

Moment: [moh-muhnt] noun; an indefinitely short time or any other particular time. It's a simple word used in our everyday vocabulary. We use it in sentences and conversations but often underappreciate little moments in our lives and forget to live for the moment.

I, for one, am guilty of this. Family and friends can test to the fact that I let stress overtake me sometimes or maybe a majority of the time. I’m constantly thinking about the future, planning ahead, and anticipating things. In a sense, I forget to have fun. All throughout high school I took things very seriously and seldomly enjoyed the little moments in my life, choosing to be serious 97% of the time and choosing to be fun the other 3%. I made my life and schedule busy. I regularly anticipated and thought about the things approaching in my life that were both enjoyable and not enjoyable; college, track meets, tests, immunizations, etc. I have had some outstanding and inspiring moments already in my life, but when they were taking place I thought: “well, this moment is going to be over soon. Now what? What’s next?”

This past Saturday, madam Reporter Chelsea Vilchis and I ventured down to southwestern Minnesota to the town of Sleepy Eye for the Sleepy Eye FFA lock-in. The night included an amazing dance, volleyball, nuke ball, dodge ball, balloon popping games, socializing, and much more. It was great seeing familiar faces and meeting new people as well. As I left the lock-in I realized I had not really been thinking about anything that night. I was not worried about upcoming assignments or if my dance moves were up to par for the town of Sleepy Eye. I simply had fun! I played in an epic volleyball match where I battled Karrah, had a dance battle with Brandon, Chanda, and Chelsea to “Piano Man”, wore a hole in my jeans from doing the Watermelon Crawl, and got smoked in dodge ball by Bethany and Miranda just to name a few.

That night, I lived for the moment. The night was full of moments filled with laughter and fun thanks to the wonderful members who made the night possible. Thank you!

In life, no two moments are the same. Each one is unique and can never be recreated. I’ll never have the same experience at a Sleepy Eye FFA lock-in as the one I just had but I enjoyed it immensely and had hundreds of great moments. I lived in the moment, which I need to start doing more and worrying less. I can only ponder for so long. I will not know how hard or easy my classes are going to be next year and I will not know where I will end up landing a teaching job after college. But until then, I’ll enjoy the moments in my life leading up to those things. I will enjoy and cherish the people, places, and moments in my life.

Living life in the moment and stationed by the emblem of Washington,

Tyler Warren