Seize The Day Essay, Research Paper

It s a funny thing about life: If you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it. – W. Somerset Maugham

Many believe we should seize the day (make every moment count) because life is short, and we may not have the time to complete our so-called opportunity in the future. We should seize the day whenever we feel the need to stop acting as others would want us to. We need to become individualists and take our lives into our own hands. We should take a chance and do something for ourselves to change from our former ways. Tom Peters was noted for saying, If a window of opportunity appears, don t pull down the shade. If we ignore this chance to fulfill ourselves we may regret it for the rest of our lives. Of course someone else’s perspective may differ a great deal from ours, and they may think of us in a negative way (in other words, they may think that we may be crazy). We should still seize the day and put aside our public personas; to take a risk and think nothing of it. All we need to do is pretend to be our younger selves and relax and let our imaginations take hold of the moment.

We need to put time aside for ourselves to indulge in some of our exciting, yet adventurous, fantasies; it would feel as if we were kids again and not have a care for anything in the world. We do not have to leave our families out of our quests for gratification, they can join in and experience this feeling also. Carpe Diem is the need to explore and fascinate ourselves with new experiences. We should take a vacation not only to relax, but also to do something daring and fun filled. Many people do not seize the day and lead unhappy and boring lives. They take vacations just to relax and get away from the office. They do not know that they are just wasting their lives away. This type of person needs to find a purpose for a vacation; if they do not seize this vacation time with a plan of excitement they will become zombie-like and suffer greatly. This is probably why some commit suicide or have nervous breakdowns; because they do not want to take the risk and seize the day. Maybe this is also why many have a job that they do not enjoy. If we are not satisfied with our jobs we should go and find a better one that fits our on personal needs.

Back in the 60’s there were many that did seize the day–today we call them hippies. Many of them quit prosperous jobs just to see what life on the wild side would feel like. They protested against the government saying, “Make love not war.” They escaped reality to view life from another standpoint and found their way to stop whatever they were doing and do something unusual for a change. They decided to expand their horizons by not doing what the everyday person does not do. The hippies wished to seek what others fail to pursue. It is what the older generations of our time wish that they had done in their yesteryear; to seek out new forms of happiness for their definition of the ancient Latin term of Carpe Diem.

I d rather be a failure at something I enjoy than be a success at something I hate. -George Burns