The reason humans are bad at living in the present is because we live in an arrogance that tomorrow is guaranteed.

That quote above was typed into a Zoom chat box during a group coaching session for the business program I’m in. It’s so true, isn’t it?

Living in the present moment is something I’ve been working on for years. I certainly don’t have it figured out, but I know it’s something that’s critical for my mental and emotional health.

So now, with so much uncertainty all around us, the thing I’ve been clinging to is TODAY. And recognizing that life is a precarious balance of never taking a day for granted while also recognizing it is all fleeting. I think the latter helps us not take things too seriously and the former encourages us to live unafraid, more fully into the people we want to be.

Today, I get to decide what today will be like. I can choose joy over fear. I can be optimistic instead of cynical. I can choose stillness over the hustle (something I have been failing at, if I’m being honest).

Today is complex – a mix of all the emotions and all the things – just like we are complex. 

Today can be messy and hard, just like we can be messy and hard.

It and we can also be beautiful and full of sparkle.

Today is what I will it to be.

It is the lens I see my circumstances through.

It is the opportunity I take to wake up each day, put one foot in front of the other, and say, “Today is my day.”

[Photo: Keenan and I enjoying a picnic lunch on my birthday earlier this month.]