Carpe Diem!

Just as a refresher, Carpe Diem means "Seize the day!" in Latin. I know that earlier I had a post titled YOLO (You Only Live Once), but I decided that for today's purposes the Latin rather than 21st century youth slang would better set the tone.  Latin, being a dead language, still has much purpose and worth in today's world.  The root of many words comes from Latin, especially if we borrow the words from Latin-based languages.  Also, if you're Catholic, Latin probably has some meaning in your life as well.  Within Catholic Mass, theology readings, hymns, prayers, etc, Latin words tend to pop up at least once or twice.  Yet, knowing Latin terminology like Agnus Dei, Kyrie Elèison, Tantum ergo Sacramentum, Dona nobis pacem, Ave Maria gratia plena Dominus tecum, etc. is a very minor challenge of being Catholic.

This Latin phrase, Carpe Diem, is perhaps one of the hardest things to learn as a Catholic, as a young person, as a human being, as a girl, as me. To seize the day, live in the moment, while still being aware of the future and learning from the past is no easy task.

Why is Carpe Diem so hard though? Isn't that the way society encourages us to do? Who cares about tomorrow! Don't worry about yesterday! Live for this moment! While I do in some ways admire the fearlessness behind this attitude, I've always been weary of the way society expects us to seize the day.  Because of the faith I was raised in, I didn't care for the moral recklessness of society's version of Carpe Diem: YOLO.  I told myself that I had a higher goal in mind, an eternal goal.  Why would I live for now when I have heaven to live for? To focus on?  I didn't want to forget the past if I needed to use it to strengthen my faith and achieve this future. The past and future were more important than the present. While I knew the present would become my past and affect my future, I was more focused on learning from the past and preparing for my future than living for today.

This was far from the only thing preventing me from seizing the day though. As a young person, a human, a girl, me, all these things made me hesitate in a non-spiritual way as well.  I may have days where I am a "Flynn Rider," but at the deep core of "Flynn," I too am a "Eugene Fitzherbert." Maybe I'm a little insecure, or hesitant to try new things. I tend to like the way things are and to dread change.  I keep myself reserved, so I don't have to worry about getting hurt. I project a "Flynn" to protect my "Eugene." I'm only human. Typically, the fear of pain, death, heights, spiders etc keep us from doing things we don't want on our record or to affect our future. So we hold back a little bit.

Not only that though. There's nothing wrong with protecting yourself and being more reserved, but still there's another way to not live in the moment.  When I'm upset, or having a bad day, I tend to go to Facebook and scan through the pictures of my friends and I during High School.  I look through conversations and photos of the times that make me smile or laugh. I am guilty, occasionally, of dwelling on the past.  While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as a habit, it can be distracting from the present.  The other thing that can prevent us from living for the now is daydreaming about the future. Oh goodness. As a girl, and I'm sure you ladies can agree with me, it can be hard not to sit around thinking about what life will be like in the future. It's hard not to just be "getting through" today so you can get to better times tomorrow. With summer coming up, it's getting harder and harder to avoid this sucker.

All these things work against this simple statement: Carpe Diem! Is that really a bad thing though? Why is it important to seize the day? For starters, God gave us today. He gave us this very moment. Thus, it is something to cherish and embrace. At the end of the day (or beginning or middle) we are meant to be happy. Are we truly happy if we simply dwell on what has been and what will be? Or is there also happiness in living  for what's happening at this moment? Carpe Diem my friends! Seize the day. Seize this moment. Let yourself be happy not because this moment is passing, but because it hasn't passed yet.  Carpe Diem!