next time

I have a friend who always responds with "tired" or "stressed" whenever I ask how she is. It's been five years, and 90% of the time, those are her answers. Yesterday, at a party, she was tired, and after they sang happy birthday, she was in a rush to leave. I asked her to stay a bit longer so we could hang out, but she said, "Let's hang out next time." I replied, "I'm gone in two weeks," and she started to cry.

Honestly, I'm not much different from her—always looking to the future, sacrificing the present for future achievements, saying "next time" when we have now. But what if there is no next time?

Sometimes we are so busy looking ahead that we forget to appreciate what we have right in front of us. So let's slow in a bit and enjoy every second of now.