what is “the moment”? i gave up on writing about music for now this thought seemed more interesting post roadtrip

ive always heard the phrase or saying of “just live in the moment” or “be fully in the moment”. many different phrases that revolve around the singular moment in time. put the phone down, live in the moment!! type shit!! aside from not being distracted, i honestly have no clue if im really in the moment or not. like what does it truly mean to be immersed in something for an extended period of time. of course it depends on what type of thing im immersed in. i am not considering 10 hours of queueing minecraft ranked speedrunning to be in the moment ok man like that just doesnt count. on the other hand, maybe queueing up 8 losses in a row in your 5 stack might have some merit to it. but then again, those moments and memories have breaks in them. what do you define as a moment? a continuous unbroken segment of time where you can sorta feel something special is going on? or can it be as lenient as hanging out in a vc on a weekday? ive had both of these types of “moments” but i didnt really think about it or care about labelling it as such until like yesterday.

for this road trip my parents wanted to hit some of the national parks around the midwest. we’re talkin mount rushmore and the badlands and devil’s tower. all american beauty. for mount rushmore i was too locked out by the time i got there but it was still super neat. i never really had that experience or “moment” looking at the gang on that mountain. i immediately started thinking that washington some sort of sfm neck thing going on. if you know what im talking about god bless. but yeah there were a fuck ton of people and the actual show itself before they lit the monument was kinda mid. either have the park ranger explanation or the movie bro; giving the history of the four presidents twice was boring as fuck and the lighting looked so bad lmfao. it is muchh better to see the guys in the early afternoon.

when i hiked the tower trail for devil’s tower, it was quite cool except there were a fuck ton of people. lots of hikers/tourists to be expected at a national park. but when i found a lookout point that faced the opposite of the tower, i kinda just felt that moment. nothing to hear except the occasional breeze and the leaves rustling as i viewed over the valley. it was shortlived because people were coming and going near the benches but that tiny short moment meant a lot to me.

same thing happened when i went to the badlands. there werent many people at this viewing spot, and there was a tiny trail with a bunch of slopes that might lead to something. i broke away from my family for a bit while hiking since i wanted to find that epic view. there was a slope hiding behind a very tall rock formation, and when i walked up, i had the most insane sight of towering rock formations. shit looked like a dripstone cave man it was awesome. that combined with how the view just jumped out after the small walk up the slope was so magical. the best part was that there was just no noise at all. very surreal moment when all i can hear is my breathing. being alone (or at least feeling like no ones around) and taking in the view; that to me is the ultimate moment. then again im still a fucking baby bro who knows if what im describing is even close to what other people think living in the “moment” is. or maybe this idea is kinda dumb and we should take every second living to be a moment. its probably a better alternative to rotmaxxing