A fairly common issue with our generation is the need to either look at the big picture, or focus on the now. We never seem to be able to do both. We sit next to each others, staring at our phones with a sense of amusement or annoyance, the edge of our jeans touching, but our hearts so far away. We talk about the future, about houses and 2.5 kids, and we burden ourselves with the stress of a wedding, a baby, a house, a car, a boat, a goat. You get the picture.

Why don’t we ever just yell STOP? Why don’t we sit back and bask in the enjoyment of being in our 20s and 30s and still being able to get so drunk on a Saturday night that you puke your brains out in your best friends toilet, then get back up the next day and drink mimosas like nothing ever happened, only the tilt of your sunglasses on the bridge of your nose giving privy to the night before?

Why don’t we tell the man that we love how much we love him every single day? Why don’t we kiss him goodbye with the same thirst that we did when he was swooning us into his arms? Why don’t we speak on the same level months later, after the rosy haze of the beginning of romance wears off? Are we too busy thinking about our future with this person to enjoy the now?

Why don’t we excel at our jobs, be thankful for having such a good one at 27? Why do we let the exhaustion of thinking about our 401k, our future children, our pretty-much-everything-else, take away from the fact that we are actually making decent money, and we should be spending some of this on us? Why do we let ourselves get too worked up over paying our credit card bills that we forget that some of the best things in life really are free?

And why, why do we think that we don’t have a right to be sad? Why do we think that we should be anyone but ourselves, because dear, we only get this one time to be ourselves? Why are we wasting it trying to keep up with the next person, or slaving away at a life that doesn’t resemble what our dreams do?

When did we get so wrapped up in the future, that we forgot how wonderful right now is? When did we get so wrapped up with the now that we forgot how to make a future with someone?

Why did we forget?