My New Year's Resolution
It is a new year! Along with many people I decided to make a New Year’s Resolution. My New Year’s resolution was to not spend as much time on my phone. I was able to stick to this fairly easily and I’ll tell you how!
The state officers and I were going to South Africa on an International Leadership 
Seminar for State Officers ILSSO. We were flying out of New York and left a couple days early, so we could spend time in the city. Some of us went to Times Square for New Year’s Eve and it was a blast. The next day January 1st we did a lot of sight-seeing we went to battery park to see the Statue of Liberty, we went to ground zero, central park, times square and some other places. It was getting late, so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel, we got on the subway and then a bus and it was finally our stop. We all got out and went to our rooms. I sat down and immediately said to myself I left my phone on the bus! I calmly went to tell the boys what I did, and we tracked it for a while, but soon it was time for us to fly to South Africa.
At first, I felt a little lost without my phone, but we were constantly going and always doing something incredible. I realized that it was probably better that I did not have my phone because I was truly living in the moment and not behind a screen. We saw some amazing things and made even more amazing friends. Ian Brown said “If you put your cameras down you might be able to live in the moment. You have a memory there of something you’ve never lived. I can honestly say that I lived! We went on a safari and saw incredible animals, visited schools with outstanding students, woke up and fell asleep to the most beautiful views, ate food that was way out of my comfort zone, and met the most exceptional people.
I might have stuck to my New Year’s resolution by default but I’m glad I did! I challenge you to put down your phone and really live in the moment.
Miranda Depenbusch