A friend on vacation in Canada sent me a picture of her holding a wine glass amidst the Toronto skyline 1,151 feet above ground. Around her was a stunning 360 view of the city of Toronto.

She said she had initially wrestled with the decision to go to the 360 restaurant and to access the CN Tower’s Main Observation floor, which is Toronto’s famous attraction.

But she relented, and there she was, gifting herself with this memorable experience.

I told her I was happy she made that decision because I would have done the same.

And I followed with the text, “All we have is here and now.”

Doing anything for ourselves, especially if one is confronted with financial restrictions, usually comes with a lot of mulling. The idea of treating ourselves to satiate our pleasure sounds self-indulgent.

And if you come from an immigrant family or are a first-generation immigrant like my friend and myself, ensuring stability and security for ourselves is at the forefront of every decision.

Yet, we must never forget that the present is all we have, and we need to learn to cherish the opportunities we have in front of us. It’s easy to relegate a decision to someday and assume that another option will be waiting for us.

However, the reality is we cannot predict what will happen tomorrow or a year from now.

It’s a balance, of course. We should not be reckless with our financial decision, but we should also learn to go guilt-free after the experiences we want.

Like my friend who decides to gift herself with this experience, she can check this off her list and never need to say, “I wish I had done that.”

When we are willing to trade our sense of security for a novel experience, we expand the boundaries that allow us to see things from a different perspective. As a result, life is richer and more fulfilling