By Maria Eirini Liodi
April
Living in the moment is a great life approach to have. In a fast-paced world of busyness and distraction, we can all use this stance to help immerse ourselves in our reality, as opposed to continuously rushing ahead, or lingering in the past. If you read any sort of wellness article nowadays, it will list an abundance of reasons why you should ‘live in the moment’ - focusing on the small things, on the here and now, can make you happier. However, despite its widespread popularity, I’ve grown a bit skeptical of this expression, or at least how it is often expressed.
Oftentimes, it appears to be a pretty and simplistic way to disguise the evasion of responsibility and the avoidance of adult challenges. For instance, I’ve heard people use this catchphrase to justify why they stop putting effort into sustaining friendships over a physical distance, or failing to plan ahead for their career. That got me thinking: could this philosophy be detrimental to one’s happiness by putting too much pressure on the present? Beyond that, could it be an oversimplification of the human experience?
In this day and age, social media enables us to be interconnected across space and time. So, in that sense, living in the moment ceases to be defined by solely geographical parameters, confining ‘the present’ to where you live and the periphery within that. Modern technology’s benefits allow us to essentially exist in multiple realities that all come together to create the present. Moreover, technology as a means of bridging communication allows us to arguably be more present in more places and for more people in our lives, contradicting the frequently asserted notion that ‘living in the moment’ necessitates an all-embracing approach to the here and now, in geographical terms. It seems that technology does not inherently make us live less in the present, how we make use of it, though, can. Therefore, ‘living in the moment’ can be less about ‘soaking up’ every moment — because it is kind of impossible to do so anyway. It can instead be more about acknowledging the multiplicity of our presence, which can extend to our digital interactions, thereby broadening the scope of what ‘living in the moment’ means.
In contemplating this, I’ve also come to realize that we actually pressure ourselves to be in the moment. For instance, when preoccupied with a difficult task or facing a personal challenge, people often tend to guilt-trip themselves for escaping into these parallel realities, rather than being actively engaged ‘in the moment’. Even then, one must once again step into their head to have that inner dialogue rather than just accepting the moment for what it is; be it good or bad, immersive or disconnected. This unrealistic expectation-setting can inadvertently lead to stress and guilt, as opposed to understanding of the nuanced reality of being human, which naturally comes with feeling disconnected or distracted from time to time.
With this line of thought, we can naturally consider the pressures constructed — or rather reinforced — by social media. Living in the moment often takes on a renewed, glamorized version on social media, whereby the streams of curated content we consume make us feel as though every moment is a memorable one and should be savored and shared in the public sphere. Perhaps we can alleviate this pressure by acknowledging the subtle balance that exists between the normal, everyday, mundane moments, and the fleeting ‘Instagrammable’ moments. This way, sharing our lives on social media, can seize to be just performance for public consumption and personal capturing of highlights.
Moreover, a simplistic interpretation of ‘living in the moment’ can risk overshadowing the importance of planning ahead and goal-setting. People advocating for this life-approach may say that thinking about the future ‘robs’ you of the present, or that it is not useful to plan ahead since those plans are subject to unpredictability anyhow. Despite the truth in the latter idea, planning ahead can help construct a life with direction, meaning and hence, greater fulfillment.
Ultimately, ‘living in the moment’ should not be about idealizing and relentlessly chasing camera-worthy moments. It can be more about accepting the intricacies of the human experience - the dull and the exhilarating, the disconnected and the engaging moments.