Present Living

Gentle reminder: spend some quality time with your mind

-  MIA CASTRO

The past year has passed by like a blur. As I was going through my old planners, each one filled with random notes, checked-off to-do lists, and all kinds of tickets from concerts to plane rides, a wave of emotions suddenly hit me. Guilt, sadness, then eventually indifference due to realization that my current planner is a visual representation of the months-long stretches that seemed to have passed by in a blip-the contents half empty and filled with black and white to-do lists. The future authors of history books may have excess amounts of material to chronicle during the pandemic, but those who have lived through it are merely left with a gap in their lives.

Many people feel the need to constantly plan and fill up their lives. While it's a good coping mechanism, it's but a temporary fix. It's something easier said than done, but consider the current summer season as a sign to take a break, to hit a reset and be mindful of the present. So before planning your life months ahead or writing down self-improvement projects that lie in the context of "doing more" or “achieving more," don't forget to include mental health practices that embrace the life we already have—a lesson that we should have all taken to heart by now.

TALK IT OUT