Sylvia Dong: Living in the Moment

Sylvia Dong shares her thoughts on a popular phrase.

“Living in the moment.” You may have heard this phrase before. A preachy motivational speaker or someone at a party telling you to just “live in the moment.”

It’s a phrase associated with carelessness and the privilege of others who spend infinite hours simply telling us to “let go.” Living in the 21st century, we’re facing an economic downturn, and ever-growing stress that high school, college applications and all your other responsibilities will bring.

Especially in the pressure cooker of Bay Area academics, where teens are expected to know their future earlier than ever, and stakes grow higher and higher with every passing year. According to a 2013 survey by the American Psychology Association, teens nationwide reported higher stress levels than the average for adults.

I’ve experienced my fair share of soul crushing hopelessness, when all your dreams and aspirations go to rot in the depths of your own mind. Every hour blends into an incoherent mess of work and stress and never being truly free. And, it’s sickeningly easy to forget the things we truly live for. A shocking idea: there’s so much more to life than work and academic success – something I recently had to learn for myself. The day-to-day joys.

The relationships. Things that I’ve found to be worthwhile, despite the guilt of unproductivity: Dyeing my hair at the bathroom sink, building half a Lego set while watching “Good Will Hunting,” and getting dragged out of bed over Facetime to bike to Rainbow Park. Of course it’s good to seek stability.

But, when all of our authority figures tell us to plan for the future, to set up the rest of our 80-year lives at the ripe age of 17 – I say, live in the moment. Because, really, in the grand scheme of things, who cares about infinitely unachievable expectations? You have your own life to live. With a Perspective, I’m Sylvia Dong.

Sylvia Dong is a high school senior living in San Jose.