Imagine being at the end of your life, what would you think in those final moments? Would it be the awards you made, the accomplishments and goals achieved, your family and friends? Sounds typical.

It’s comforting to believe the story ends in accomplishment.

But what if it was regret?

Not because of what you didn’t achieve, but because of the moments you failed to live in.

We live in a world where social media makes us so afraid of missing out on other people’s lives that we end up missing out on our own. Alarmingly, the average American would’ve spent over 12 years on their phone across their lifetime.

Take the time to be present, to really live in the moment.

In this case, time isn’t money.

Time is your life.

If something is free, maybe you are the product; the product and not the customer. Your happiness, your joy, your purpose, is slowly being bought out into trends, aesthetics, and quick hits of validation, that in the bigger picture, are meaningless.

Don’t drown in shallow water.

Social media isn’t inherently bad. Used intentionally, it can inspire, connect, and create opportunities that people of the past couldn’t even dream of.

But overstimulation, such as doomscrolling, rewires our brains in ways we can’t comprehend, and ruins our state of mind.

We talk about cooked attention spans, but why not bring up the fact of how sacred it actually is to have real attention? It’s the lens through which we experience life. Each scroll is a tiny fracture, a crack of presence. Hours evaporate, silently, discreetly, wasting away precious hours of life that others did not get the chance to experience. Because every hour we lose is an hour someone would’ve given anything to have.

The silence as we doom our minds is often very loud.

Stop overstimulating yourself by watching others live. Remember what makes you feel alive and go do it. Don’t just wait.

If you’re bored, embrace it. Take the time to be silent with yourself. As it’s often in those moments where self-reflection reveals itself as your real drive.

Rediscover the value of small things in life. The breeze outside. The warmth of sunlight on your hands. Our planet is a beautiful place, with her color, nature, and life.

Remember what it means to live–not just exist.

Because life is a gift, one that we shouldn’t take for granted or waste away, without even realizing what you’re losing.