003: Learning to live in experiences, not memories
The perils of keeping your head down and putting one foot in front of the other.
Life moves fast.
Sometimes so fast that you look up and realize that you’ve been everywhere but inside your own life.
Just as soon as I’d gotten settled back into my routine, I was already on the move again. I’d just gotten back from Mexico City (which somehow was a month ago). As I write this, I’m currently on a flight back to New York from San Diego for work. Next week I’ll be in DC until the new year. And in two weeks, it’ll be 2026.
Add in all the work that has to happen between now and then, and the timeline feels impossible. But it’s also proof of how fast life can happen without you really noticing.
This year, I made a conscious effort to break the habit of hesitancy I’d adopted in my life. I had grown to overthink everything. I made plans. I put together outlines. I did everything to avoid actually doing the thing. So I took on the mindset of momentum. I began taking swift motions, putting one foot in front of the other, and let it carry me over the last 12 months.
I got pretty far. I quit a part-time job that was no longer serving me (or I it), I was creative lead on my first activation, I put a major dent in my debt while also putting a significant amount into my savings, I’m thissss close to reaching my weight loss goal, began decluttering my home, got my first paying client as a freelancer, filed for my LLC, and crossed five new cities and one country off my list. 2025 was one of my most consistent, goal-hitting years in a long time.
What troubles me is that I barely remember any of it.
If not for check marks on the vision board above my desk, when I think of the story I’d tell about this year, I can recall all the things I’ve done, but I can’t really remember how any of it felt. Just as soon as I crossed one thing off the list, another thing followed right behind it. It’s almost like I went on this amazing journey with my head down, so focused on putting one foot in front of the other that when I looked up, I’d arrived at my destination with no recollection of how I got there.
Looking back on this year, having momentum was great. Momentum was necessary. But momentum without memory, just fast movement, starts to ring hollow after a while.
The practice of presence is a skill I’ve often mistaken for stagnation. When I’m so busy prioritizing what’s next, sitting still feels unnatural, irresponsible even. The moments when I’m not in motion, when time stands still, feel like wasted opportunities. I always feel like the idle time could be filled with seeing more, doing more, and being more. But this year, for the first time, I started to notice just how important it is to really take it all in.
When I filed for my LLC a few weeks ago, I was surprised by how quickly the process took. On a Sunday afternoon, I sat at my laptop and, within moments, became a business owner. There was no experience. No euphoric feeling. Just another item on the to-do list marked as done. Another achievement was added to the board. I was excited, but as quickly as the feeling came, it went. I’m tired of it all feeling so fleeting.
The right now is arguably the most important moment in time I’ll ever live. It’s the only moment that I can reach out, touch, and feel. If I’m spending all of my now focused on accumulating achievements and not investing in the experiences, I’m missing the point of life. My achievements will tell the story of what I’ve done; my experiences will bear the proof of who I was while it was taking shape.
To have the memories, I have to learn to live in the experiences, the micro moments, that create them. I have to register it in my mind, imprint it into my soul, and settle into the feeling before I rush off to whatever comes next.
As I reflect on what I want for 2026, I want to spend more time living in the moment rather than reflecting on it in hindsight.
Next year, I want to spend more time documenting, collecting, curating, and sharing as an act of being awake in my own life. I want to stop looking at my goals as obligations. I wanna look at them as individual moments, things that I can experience, and take the time to embed myself in those experiences fully. I want to experience all life has to offer, not just survive it.
I still value putting one foot in front of the other, but now I trust myself enough to walk without blinders.
I want to build a life that’s lived and not just checked off. 2026 is inevitably going to come and go, and I don’t want to know only what I achieved. This coming year, I want to get in there and get my hands dirty, walking away with the feeling of having fully invested in my life.
So I ask you, before you step into 2026, what’s one moment from this year you moved through but didn’t fully experience? If it showed up again, how would you respond with greater presence?
Your next experience deserves your whole self, not just your momentum. Let presence be the thing that changes the next moment for you.
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