The river flows in so many directions just as the ocean sways. We connect to nature, relate to animals, sea creatures, and underestimate the fact that we are all connected in a psychological universe. But what does that have to do with “going with the flow”? It’s the fact that people don’t know how and some people do. Some know how to enjoy life because they want to cherish every moment while they can. While others forget to be kids and are so committed to the future.

Flow: the action or fact of moving along in a steady continuous stream. Some people don’t do that. I’m one of those people.

Before we get to high school we’re told to “live in the moment”, “enjoy being a kid”. But how? When people go into junior year of high school they are often asked the question “What are your plans after high school?”

It’s not fair how the school tries to be nice by asking the question. It makes it feel like they’re punishing us to pick something because students don’t know what they want right away. Their interests and hobbies might not be the career job that they want.

Not everyone knows right away what they want to do after high school. So it’s scary how juniors are stressing about classes because they were being asked “What do you want to do after high school?” That question was easy for me to answer even before going into high school; however, everyone is different.

When choosing a career and trying to live your life everything fumbles and changes. The stress of figuring out something and the frustration that there isn’t enough time to make a decision is scary. It makes life not fair because how can anyone “live in the moment” when everything starts colliding.

“Live in the moment”. “Go with the flow”. How do you explain that? For people, they go along with life, not having a care in the world because “life is too short”. Pretty soon we grow up and forget what it’s like being a kid. Some students get jobs but it’s because they need to take care of their family or maybe they want to start making money so they can save up for something important. But at that point, you’re not a kid anymore. You have a new schedule where you need to balance work, and school, and hanging out with friends.

“Time flies when you’re having fun.”-Albert Einstein

The true meaning of going with the flow, being in the moment is not wanting to forget precious memories. I am not like that. It scares me because I don’t know what life prepares me for. That’s why I’m constantly being prepared for something. As a result, it destroys me being a teenager.

In life, you gotta roll with it. You can’t plan or picture what a situation is gonna be like cause it doesn’t work like that. Life will always throw curveballs at you, you can’t form a plan or assume the worst out of things. A monochrome world isn’t a colorful one, life’s always filled with color. So when someone wants to run away it’s because they’re scared of what’s up ahead and if they’re gonna get hurt again.

When being “in the moment” we tend to forget our reality because something is so good we just wanna capture it on film or by a photo. We take as many photos and videos as we want but there is such a thing as having an obsession with capturing the moment.

It’s to the point where people don’t know how to enjoy and live the moment. People focus so much on taking pictures instead of enjoying what’s happening.

Our phones block our way of things. Relying on our eyes and mouth to try and explain is ten times better.

Spontaneous-a sudden inner impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus.

A spontaneous student or the planning type. Who is who? Which one are you? You have students who are the major planning type, some who are spontaneous, and some who are equally both. Diego Ortiz, a junior “typically makes plans but [he’s] a bit of both. Sometimes [he} goes with plans or goes with the flow.” Jocelyn Lazo, a junior, is also “a planning person. If things don’t go as planned then it’s fine. But [she] rather have things planned.” Emma Palacios, a junior, says she’s “spontaneous, I don’t have a plan. Just not caring too much, not putting too much stress on myself like if things happen it happens” Isaac Vives, a junior, says he’s also spontaneous “I don’t think ahead with stuff and where it takes me, I just go. To be honest I’m lazy and there’s so much stuff going on with my life”.

From a student’s point of view, we can be both spontaneous and planners. It’s true life never goes as planned and it certainly won’t help. But we can’t always be spontaneous with certain things because when we grow up we have responsibilities.

From a teacher’s perspective, it’s the same way, some are spontaneous and some aren’t. Miss H. an Instructional Assistant says “I’ve always been a spontaneous person. But as I get older I’m trying to change that”. As for the English 11 teacher, Mrs. Priesz is “totally a planning person. Even if plans fail I continue to be a planner, I can’t make decisions. So I make plans”.

What do spontaneous and planning have to do with this? Well because this connects, people are planners because they’re scared, people are spontaneous because they wanna remember how they spent their teenage years. Living in the moment and going with the flow scares some people because they don’t want to lose control of that specific plan, so we make another one if plans fail. But at the same time, we can’t replace the first one.

So what can I say to you? Live life to the fullest. Life isn’t always about making plans, being spontaneous isn’t always about being too caught up in the moment. Students don’t have to know what they want after high school because they’re just trying to be kids.

Before growing up we do all kinds of things as kids, all we’re doing is just trying to be kids without people pushing us to grow up. By that time it’ll be too late and we would’ve forgotten what it’s like being a teenager because we were too busy caring about our future.