Coming from me the idea presented in the title is ironic; hypocritical, even. Anyone who knows me knows that I am always preparing for the future. I am always worried about the future. I’m the “more ‘present’ and less ‘future’” type of girl. I always need to what I’m doing next, how I’m going to do it, and how it will prepare me for the future.
It’s not healthy. Actually, it’s a little tiring, tremendously overwhelming, and outrageously annoying.
From a young age we fantasize about who we want to be, what we want to do, and how we’re going to do it. We want to be doctors, firemen, businessmen, etc. We cannot wait until we are within those occupations. In fact, sometimes we want to be where we’ll be in ten years now.
That’s the issue: we want the future now and not the present. We tend to no longer live in the present, but live in the future. More effort is put into living for the future than living in the present.
Let me take the time out now to push the fact that the present is just as important as the future. Deciding that the future is more important than the present can only lead to years—or even a life—of unhappiness.
Let’s say I did become a successful journalist at a young age, ten years prior to when I believed I would reach those standings. Well, then what? I would be young; I would still desire more. Suddenly every dream that I dreamed of accomplishing, every achievement that I have achieved, and so on would not be enough; life would seem mundane.
Instead, I would have this desire to achieve more. Instead of living in the present, I would be working toward a newly thought-out future. I may never be satisfied; never happy.
Don’t you see? It’s a cycle. The “more future and less present” conundrum is a cycle that would only continue to go on as one grows old. There will be no real self-appreciation of how far you have come. There will be no real satisfaction. You will be constantly living for the future, not in the present and—more importantly—not for yourself.
It is important to appreciate the beauty in the present. The friends, the laughs, the tears, the adventures, the memories; it is important to acknowledge and appreciate them as they come. Most of these, if not all, are fleeting periods in life.
Our dreams are important and working towards achieving these dreams is even more important, but the most important part in all of this is the journey one takes to get this dream. Those trials and tribulations within that journey, along with those friends that pushed you through, your family that supported you, and those fun times had, are what make the present and the future worthwhile.
Live in the now, but contribute to the future. To sum it up, think:
More “present”, less “future”.
