Church briefs

web1_Mike-McGinley-1.jpg

Around Town: Mini Golf Classic at Osterhout brings to mind simpler times

<p>With so much to look forward to, it&#8217;s hard to &#8220;live in the now.&#8221;</p><p>Of course, &#8220;now&#8221; is the most important time in anyone&#8217;s life. The future isn&#8217;t happening, and the past is the past. But it&#8217;s hard to remember that when constantly planning for life after graduation.</p><p>For me, this means putting things off.</p><p>I&#8217;d like to keep my room a little more tidy, for example. I know that I have too much stuff, but have decided that I&#8217;ll get rid of a lot of clothes and things I don&#8217;t need when I move out of my apartment (yes, I found a perfect apartment the day after my last column ran. C&#8217;est la vie).</p><p>Why clean if soon I&#8217;ll be in a new place?</p><p>I&#8217;d like to quit smoking, but have resolved that the best time to quit is after graduation. Quitting smoking is a stressful experience &#8212; for me, and likely for those around me &#8212; so I figure once I can relax a little more and have some more free time, I&#8217;ll be able to take the plunge.</p><p>My lungs can take a couple more months, right?</p><p>I&#8217;d like to cook dinner more often. Not only will I eat healthier, I&#8217;ll spend less money when I&#8217;m away from the dining hall. But I&#8217;m too busy right now, so I&#8217;ll wait until I&#8217;m graduated and in my new place.</p><p>It has a beautiful kitchen, and I&#8217;ll have more time to cook. Why should I stress about that now?</p><p>While all of this seems logical, at least to me, it is flawed.</p><p>So, I&#8217;ll live in a messy room until June? That is not good for my mental clarity.</p><p>I&#8217;ll smoke until I&#8217;m ready to quit? How do I know I&#8217;ll ever be ready?</p><p>I think a lot of people get caught up in planning (although I may just be speaking of myself). Planning is important, but there are a lot of things I can do now. Why not live my best life now?</p><p>Just because I think things will be better overall post-graduation, which I would argue is a good outlook, doesn&#8217;t mean that I can&#8217;t make things better for the me that is in the now.</p><p>Sometimes, even when you know exactly what to do to improve your life, you don&#8217;t. It seems too hard. I&#8217;m comfortable living my life the way I am right now.</p><p>This seems counterintuitive and silly when you think about it, but it&#8217;s so easy to fall into the pattern.</p><p>Can you imagine if we did everything we needed to do for ourselves?</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Toni-rgb-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_Toni-rgb-2.jpg</photo0><caption0></caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Toni Pennello</p><p>tpennello@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Toni Pennello is a Wilkes University senior who works in the Times Leader newsroom.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

College Life: Living in the ‘now’ hampered by post-grad plans