# welcome By [Thomper's Thoughts](https://paragraph.com/@thomper-s-thoughts) · 2022-02-20 --- What is going on, everyone! I am excited to begin this blog to talk about what is going on in my life and how I see things through my outlook. To kick things off, let's go into how I live my life and why I do it? This whole realization of how precious time is hit me back in Fall 2020. I had just gone through a challenging situation regarding ROTC, and I had to add another year to my college career. While at community college, I attended the University of Maryland for my ROTC training sessions. After transferring to Georgetown University, I had to transfer over to Howard University for training sessions. Crosstown agreements were not there to continue attending the University of Maryland. I had many memories while I went through the training session at UMD, and I made a few great friends that I know will last a lifetime. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, things began shutting down, and everything transitioned to the online environment. ROTC training was held through zoom, and it was an absolute snooze fest. After the tough news was laid on me and began the transfer process, I was ready to leave and start my ROTC training time at Howard. The Fall 2020 semester had started, and everything was online - the snooze fest continued. I struggle to make friends like that. I am not the type of person to go out of my way and introduce myself to those around me; it takes time for me to get comfortable with someone and begin a friendship from there. I need to know I can trust you to move the relationship further. I struggled to adapt and connect with the cadets at the Howard University ROTC detachment, and I wouldn't say I liked it at all. I kept reminiscing on the great times I had at UMD. Along came my brother, who introduced me to a phenomenal app called "Waking Up by Sam Harris." This app gives the tools to be solid at meditation; it takes a lot of time to get used to and to master - I have been at it for almost 1.5 years, and I am still a beginner. It also includes different talks about philosophy, free will, stoicism, etc. The one that caught my eye was titled "The Last Time." It described the idea of impermanence, which entails an event lasting for a limited period of time. Sam Harris's example to further his thought was changing his kid's diapers. When I have kids, I want to make sure I am there for them for all their important moments and cherish every second I have with them. Harris identifies that you will never know the last time you change your kid's diaper. As horrible as it feels in the moment of changing a diaper, a tiny human being depends on you to get cleaned up and continue being the baby that it is. When that day comes that your kid does not need a diaper changed anymore, a part of the childhood is gone, and your kid can now take care of themselves. Had he known the last time he changed his kid's diaper was indeed the last time, he would have made sure to embrace that moment fully. Transpose this to my time at UMD. I still remember the last time I was involved with an ROTC event at UMD. We were at a base visit in North Carolina and just saw the news that the NBA had suspended the season indefinitely due to COVID-19. I did not expect this to last long, I thought it would be done in a week, and we would get to normal soon. We got back to UMD, I went home, and I never returned for a training session again. After listening to Sam Harris, I realized I had been living life wrong. The way I lived was that I took life and everything in it for granted—my family, friends, moments, achievements, etc. I took every one of those things for granted. I decided to change the way I lived and made it a point to live in the moment. I have plans for myself; however, when we focus too much on the future, we ignore the wonders of the present world. Had I known that moment was my last training event at the UMD ROTC, I would have thanked every person who impacted my time there and lived in the moment. I will end this long introductory blog post with this. When you live in the moment and embrace everything around you - like the people and the environment around you - you will not regret anything that happens in life. When you live every single second of your life as it should be lived, there is nothing more you could do to enhance that moment. Live in the moment and be grateful that you have the ability to be in the position you are in today. Do not take it for granted because that can all go away in a second! I will end there and elaborate more on this next time! Let me know your thoughts; I always appreciate the positive and negative feedback! --- *Originally published on [Thomper's Thoughts](https://paragraph.com/@thomper-s-thoughts/welcome)*