Living on Default

     It's 6:45 a.m. and maybe the approaching day has the potential to be amazing and wonderful, but that's certainly the last thing on your mind in your current state of sleep deprivation. The only thing you can think about is how your head hurts from falling asleep on top of your notes at 1:30 last night (or more accurately this morning), how the sky isn't even light yet, and how the school system must be incredibly cruel for forcing you to drag yourself out of bed at this ungodly hour of the morning. By the time you finally arrive in first hour after the usual morning hassle of getting ready, you mentally applaud yourself for actually getting to school on time and slump down at your desk, hoping with every fiber of your already exhausted being that whatever assignment they're going to make you do this hour won't be too challenging. But then you remember you most definitely forgot to do your math homework - you didn't have time to finish it last night in the midst of studying for your A.P. Chem. test - and so you frantically rip a spare sheet of paper from your notebook and try to hurry through a few problems before the bell rings, announcing the start of another day of mechanically trudging through the halls before trudging home to complete your homework, only to wake up and do it all again tomorrow. 

     Most people go through life living for the weekend, living for vacation, living for a break in their monotonous schedule that will allow them to escape the dull, frustrating routine of their everyday lives. And most people, despite being unhappy with their lives, despite tolerating weeks on end of this unsatisfying routine, don't seek more freedom than their short, 48-hour weekends allow. But why? Are all of us really so scared of change that we're unwilling to deviate from our schedule, even if it could bring us more happiness? David Foster Wallace claims that "the capital-T Truth is about life before death" and I have to agree. Living for the weekend, living for something better to come along is all just wasted time. Sure, it's not the answer to the meaning of life, but I think everyone would feel a lot more content if we were more open to our surroundings. If we were not so focused on our problems and the mechanics of our routines that we forgot what living feels like.