At our last Health and Wellness meeting for the Calgary Mayor’s Youth Council, we had actually finished everything on the agenda. Once we were done with the meeting, we kind of just sat there for a second, not really sure what to do next. We had time left, no more tasks to complete, and somehow that felt unusual. After a while, boredom turned into random conversation. Laptops closed.
Someone asked a simple question: what is your dream?
One of our members shared that she wanted to study political science and travel the world. She spoke about wanting to understand global systems, cultures, diplomacy, and people. Then she paused and laughed a little. She called it unrealistic.
That word stayed with me.
Unrealistic. At sixteen, seventeen years old, already measuring our dreams against practicality. Already shrinking them to fit what feels acceptable or safe. It made me realize how quickly we move from dreaming freely as children to calculating outcomes as teenagers. Somewhere between elementary school and high school, we start filtering our aspirations through stress, university applications, comparison, and fear of failure. We spend so much time chasing the future that we forget we are living in something meaningful right now.
In that moment, sitting around the table with people who care deeply about their city and their impact, I realized how ironic it is. We are youth leaders. We advocate for wellness. We talk about youth inclusivity. Yet even we struggle to fully live in the present without worrying about what comes next.
Chasing the future is important. Ambition pushes us forward. It helps us grow. Learning from the past is just as important. Our experiences shape our resilience and perspective. But if we are constantly analyzing yesterday and planning tomorrow, we risk missing today.
Today is where friendships form during side conversations after meetings.
Today is where confidence builds when you share an idea out loud.
Today is where passion quietly develops, even if you are not sure what it will become yet.
There is something powerful about allowing yourself to dream without immediately labeling it as realistic or unrealistic. The world changes because someone once believed in an idea before it made sense on paper. At our age, we should be exploring possibilities, not limiting them.
Pressure convinces us that every choice must be strategic. Every class must align with a career. Every extracurricular must build a resume. But growth is not linear. Sometimes the most meaningful parts of our lives are the unplanned ones. The spontaneous conversations. The random interests. The risks that do not guarantee a result.
Living in the present does not mean abandoning goals. It means appreciating the process. It means recognizing that who you are becoming is just as important as where you are going. That meeting reminded me that wellness is not only about managing stress. It is about protecting our ability to dream. It is about allowing ourselves to be young, curious, and hopeful without apology.
So yes, chase the future. Work hard. Set goals. Reflect on the past and learn from it. But do not forget to live fully in this moment. Because one day, the present we rush through will become the past we wish we had slowed down to enjoy.