In This Moment

This photo is from a recent camping trip I took with some friends. It’s a pathway along Eagle Lake in Acadia National Park. We walked around the corner and I noticed how the light was flowing through the trees and glistening on the leaves. There were three small older woman standing under it and it all just seemed so majestic. Of course, I took a photo of it because it was such a beautiful moment. But, it was also in that moment where I realized how long it had been since something stopped me in that way. The kind of moment where you experience something and have that thought to yourself of “oh my god this is so beautiful I could sit here for hours.” Its happened before:

Once I was on a volunteer trip in Taos, New Mexico. We went for a run late one night and it was just the five of us running on an empty road along desert stretches where mountains rose above. I remember looking up and noticing how brilliant the sky looked covered in so many damn stars.

It happened again in Nicaragua on another volunteer trip when my group climbed a volcano. As we were running (literally, running) down the side of it, a storm approached. A few friends and I were riding in the back of our truck when it started to torrential downpour. But we didn’t care and it was a moment where I understood that quote in the book “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” You know, when the main character says “and in this moment, I swear we are infinite.”

And then there was the time I was in Auburn, WA at a pawn shop talking to an employee. He seemed a little crazy at first, but he told me about how his wife had passed away and how she meant the world to him. He described the feeling when he first met her as a moment of “being struck by lightening” and how nothing really seemed right anymore now that she was gone. We just stood there over a case of old video games talking about life and love. It was so simple, yet it was a moment that stuck with me.

These moments happen when we least expect them, but whenever they do, they strike us in some way. They are the kind of moments that remind me why I love to write and tell these kind of stories. But I don’t do it enough because I’m always waiting for the right moment or right idea. But why wait around for them to happen? Ask yourself at any point in the day what you want that’s going to make you feel inspired or happier. Maybe it’s as simple as: “In this moment I want a coffee.” So get up and get yourself a coffee.

My point is, living in New York City has taught me something I am happy to have learned. That I spend too much time looking in one direction and ignoring everything else. Those moments are always happening, but too often we’re on our phones or worrying about something else to notice the little things. I’ll catch myself looking up from time to time and getting lost in how beautiful some architecture is. But besides that, I feel like I’m rushing through moments to get to the next one without even realizing it. I’m sure I’m not alone in this and I notice it in strangers all the time. And for me, I don’t write as often anymore because I’m waiting for the right time to be inspired.

So in this moment I am making it the right time. You’ll probably see more posts on here and on my Instagram. I’m choosing today to start a “new years resolution” because it’s just about as good a time as any to do so. And I guess the whole point of this is to ask you if you want to do the same.