Being in the present wears me out!

I recently started teaching after school programs for elementary age kids. Yes, I am Miss Anne, and I will be teaching you math and theater this year. The kids are great. They're excited, interested, sad, bored, engaged, interactive, isolated... all of the ranges you could possibly imagine. The program lasts an hour and you have to be quick to explain things, or else you lose your audience.

So there you are, playing a game - having fun and moving along- and at the flip of a hat... they're over it! You have to teach something completely different. It's like running on the freeway, you're in 5th gear, and then you stall out! Oh no!!!! Restart your engine and grind back into first gear ~ here we go......

To make matters even more challenging, the kids are all different ages. Some are very good at adding and subtracting, so they really want to show off their skills in multiplication. Excellent... but wait, their partner doesn't. Gotta play the game according the the common denominator.

The best thing about working and playing with kids is that you're completely in the moment. You don't even have an option here. You're in it, they're no spacing out, worrying about bills, the extra 5lbs you want to work off, the lack of a love life (not speaking from personal experience or anything.. just using random elements as an example) ~ You're in it whether you like it or not. NOW is the only moment because THEN already passed, and what WILL HAPPEN... who knows and who cares?

That full immersion into the present. Facing it and seeing those eyes staring back at you ~ expecting you to do something FUN right now. Because if it ain't not fun, then it ain't worth doing.

So when does that adulthood happen? When is that shift from the present to living in the past and worrying about the futures. Is it in high school? Maybe before? Maybe it happens when you have your first regret? Ewww.... that's a nasty subject. Where the heck did I get that from?

Honestly, I think it's just a natural evolution. We live our lives, however long or short and we accrue memories and responsibilities. Those two are enough to keep us toggling back and fourth on our computer of a brain between what has happened and calculating the probability of what might. Now there's an interesting word... might. Meaning a probability of something happening, maybe, perhaps ~ also meaning strength, power, energy of being capable.

Might I use my might tonight?

Well here's the deal folks. Being in the present wears me out! But it sure beats worrying about the future and regretting the past.