As junior year comes to an end, I find my friends saying, “I’m so done with school – I just want to go to college already,” even though a year still remains before we will begin college.

The more I think about it, the more I realize that most of us (myself included), live our lives in anticipation of some big event: a history test, an English essay, hell week for the musical.

All I have to do is get through this history paper, and then everything will be fine, I tell myself. Until that test, school, and my life, will suck but after that test, my life will be perfect. Until spring break. It never ends. Right now, I am counting down the days until summer.

When I told a friend that I was thinking about writing this column, she immediately told me, “Life isn’t not about the destination, it’s about the journey.” I think she got the quote wrong, but the sentiment is right.

So, I am working to rid myself of this habit of always living waiting for someone. Although I do it often, I hate that I do. I feel as though I am wasting away precious time with the people I have met and the friends I have made. By not living in the moment, I worry that I am throwing away opportunities that this school has given me.

Although I participate, am I really making the most out of it if I’m always lamenting the fact that I am not in college yet?  I only have one more year of seeing my friends every day and taking advantage of everything this school has to give me. It is my goal to make the most of it and not waste it pining away for the next step.

I will still have a purpose to what I do, because I am determined. I know that I’m always going to have the future in mind whenever I do anything, whether it’s how that activity will look on a college application, or how much time I’ll waste by watching the latest episode of “Downton Abbey.”

I’m going to wander around for a while without a purpose, because it’s like J.R.R. Tolkien said, “Not all those wander are lost.”

And I’m going to smell the roses while I’m at it.