Getting lost in excitement

I've got an exciting month and a half ahead of me. All within the next week, Ben is moving down to Charlotte, Meredith & Josh are visiting us, and I'll be turning 23. Next month, I'll fly out to Los Angeles to reunite with my college roommates — Autumn, Michelle & Gillian — for some much needed girl-time over a long weekend. Then, I'll go back to Harrisonburg for my dear Taylor's going away party (even though, funny enough, she's moving closer to me). Just after that, I'll make my way down to the coast for a family beach week.

It's a lot to look forward to — that's for sure. But in the coming days and weeks, I'm fighting urges to focus on what's to come. Yes, of course, I'm excited for the events ahead of me. How could I not be? But I want to make sure I don't get so wrapped up in the next adventure that I lose sight of what's in front of me.

I'm not the first person and I know I won't be the last to pitch some kind of "live in the moment" spiel. But I know that I fall victim to the mentality of fixating on the future, so others could also likely use a reminder.

It's easy to think you don't have anything to look forward to on any given day leading up to a big exciting thing, but you might just have to find it. I try to look for little things that make the time I'm in a little special. Maybe that project you're working is stressing you out, but if you can find some aspect of it that you enjoy doing, you can enjoy the process a little more. Maybe it seems like you have a few mundane days before something exciting over the weekend, but you can enjoy reading a chapter of a book, taking a walk around the block, or getting a coffee at your local shop.

Alternatively, I'll try feeding off the joy of others. The things we get our joy from don't always have to be about us. Talk to your friends. Ask them what their plans are, how their day has been, what the best story they've heard that day is. Odds are, they'd love to tell you about it. And when it's someone you care about, their joy can be contagious.

The best part of it all is that it's got a second impact: by finding things to be excited about each day instead of focusing on what's ahead, those big things you're looking forward to will seemingly arrive a bit sooner.

I'm not perfect — I have countdowns saved on my phone for big things I'm looking forward to, and it's been less than an hour before I talked about upcoming plans with a loved one. But it's okay to be excited for those things, as long as it doesn't take away from where you are now.