She was 19 years old. Life was going great, she had just got accepted into fashion school, and was planning out her career as a designer. Her friends were there too, sharing all the good moments, and all the bad ones. It was a good feeling to have them there. And her family was always there for her. That felt good too. She had a bright future planned out ahead of her, but that’s all she would think about. She would never cherish the present, and where she got to now. She would always be focusing on what the future laid in store for her.

She was 23 years old. She just got her master’s degree in fashion, and she was starting her own company. She was focusing on what her female customers would want in their clothes, like soft materials, and pockets. She was working hard, and her life was going exactly as she wanted it to, but she was never happy. She always felt like she could do more. She always assumed that the future would be happier.

She was 31 years old. She was living in a mansion with her husband, and 3-month old baby girl. Her life was full of potential happiness. She single-handedly made a million dollar company, lived comfortably, and just had a baby. But instead of finally being happy, she looked back to the past, and wished that she could have cherished that time, instead of always pushing off the happiness to the future. She had spent all that time chasing that feeling, but she didn’t realize that the feeling was right in front of her.

She was 49 years old, and her 18-year-old daughter was following in her mother’s footsteps, and going to fashion school. “Don’t make the same mistakes I did,” she told her daughter. “Look to the future, and build a life for yourself, but don’t forget to be happy in the moment.” When her daughter went off to college, she realized that it was not too late for herself. She realized that the feeling that she was chasing, it was still there, she just had to see it. She finally embraced the present, and was, for the first time in her adult life, happy.