the journey

CONFLICTS OF A TEEN DEALING WITH SCHOOL... A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

and so I was thinking.  Just sitting in class, as the monotone algebra sounds of the square root of X plus A faded into a blur...
and I did something looked upon as unacceptable.  something we all do.  I "spaced out."  But what happens in that time which is looked down upon in our society?  It is a time when our minds travel to great depths of reflection.  A time when we are supposed to be listening to pointless numbers on a whiteboard that sidetrack us from listening to our intuition inside of our minds.  And so I was thinking. Thinking about progress.  Progress in society, vs. Progress in the quality of life.  People who work hard in school, get strait A's, then go to an amazing college have to deal with tons of stress, and they miss out on a lot of important life experiences.  They miss out on a lot of moments that could have been had, had they not been living in the future.  They suffer at late hours of the night working on essays and studying for tests.  and as for the studying, it NEVER ends.  Does it really pay off?  People who live in the moment, flunk out of school, and have the time of their life by living in the NOW, they party hard, laugh and simply indulge in enjoying life... well, lets just say no one wants to end up homeless or not successful. 
So now my question is... where is the line drawn?  How do we choose between living it up now, or later?  Do we strive for our best in school and face the sacrifices of missing out on experiences that we could have had on the way?  Is success really marked by the grade letters on a piece of paper that can be tossed out? 
I say, it's all about the journey.  Its about each moment.  Its about each day on the way through life.  Its about the amount of times we laugh and smile in a day.  Its good to work your ass off, but make sure to cancel out the pain with joy.  Work as hard as you party.  Smile as much as you cry.  and then.. you're really living it.  Because if we really can't have joy and love without having pain and sorrow, then take both.  don't be immune.  Don't blow off the contributions you should make to the world. but don't work so hard that you don't have time to stop, look around, apreciate, breathe, and take it all in.    We only have one life to live. so, I say, LIVE IT.