Buried in the burdens of university life, it is easy to stop noticing anything around me other than my goals. We have always been encouraged to set goals, and focus our efforts to achieving them. This goal-driven behaviour is quite like doing laundry: you have an assignment or are trying out for a team or looking for a job and before you have time to celebrate accomplishing these things, more loads of dirty laundry is thrown at you. At some point, these loads become too heavy and block my vision of anything outside of my tasks like the wonderful people that surround me, or the gorgeous landscape in my city (the waterfall city of Canada), or even little things like a puppy skipping down the street.

The past week, I have been removed from all this on a volunteer trip to South Carolina where there is no internet or possibility to taking care of my extracurricular commitments. In addition to the refreshing beach weather, spending seven days with 24 other university students allowed me to spend the majority of my time either talking, doing physical volunteer work, or exploring Charleston and the beach. My biggest stressors there were whether or not I would be discovered in a game of mafia. Reflecting on my ‘normal’ life from this island of this current life, the heavy value I had put into getting good grades or building my resume felt like distant concepts when contrasted with how happy I was without these worries.

Some people I met there further fuelled these thoughts. Number one: Mike, he is the kind of guy who lives a five minute walk from Folly beach and surfs whenever the tides allow him. By day, he is a full-time construction worker for Habitat for Humanity. What stood out most about him was his enthusiasm about literally every little thing. Volunteering to build with Habitat, you quickly learn how physically tiring it is but this guy is able to, day after day for years, smile from 8 AM to 4 PM and celebrate every little thing like a new pile of gravel being dumped or even finishing using the bathroom. Then comes Nadia who I befriended. She is a vegan and she lives a very healthy lifestyle. Back home, she would get up at 5AM to run and in South Carolina she would always get up early and help with dishes and breakfast. This reminded me of my occasional early mornings where I would wake up before the whole city and see things that others don’t. By the time the day started for everyone, I would already be fully awake and ready for the day and this is a habit that I will be picking up. Another is Maria who I’ve noticed is really kind and respectful of everyone, as well as really creative —she built souvenirs using seashells, paint, and extra wood chips from the construction. When we left a place she would personally say goodbye to the people there with a hug. I could go on and on about inspiring qualities I noticed but then this article would never end.

The take home message here is mindfulness. Seeing my life from the perspective of a removed environment serves as a reminder that working hard and being ‘succesful’ is not all there is to life. Sure these things are important and they do take time but there is no excuse to not have time for everything else. Even when I cannot make time to do things I want, my attitude can still be different. Like Mike, I want to be able to celebrate the little things in life and I want to wake up earlier everyday to take in the sunrise and fresh air. Balance is important and a weeks trip removed from daily life helped me realize that.