Have you ever found yourself thinking about what comes next? The answer is most likely yes. This could be anything from what you're going to do after work. What's happening next weekend. What your next project is going to be. What's next for your career. Who are you going to sleep with next. I think it's a natural thought process to wonder about what comes next. As a species we're somewhat forward thinking. Well at least some of us are. There are those people out there who are perfectly content with right now. I kind of envy them because for some reason my mind can't find contentment with the present very often. I'm always thinking about the future or what I'm going to be doing. To quote that little green guy; "All his life has he looked away to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. What he was doing." That's me exactly and I wish sometimes I could break the habit.
It's entirely possible that by focusing on what's next you've essentially let the present get away from you. We've all heard phrases like "Seize the day" or "Make every moment count". Those are all great ideas, but they're not always practical because if you think about it, that type of mentality would be exhausting after awhile. Some days are better than others. Sometimes you put forth more effort into right now than you do in other cases. I'm not sure there's anything wrong with allowing yourself to just coast. For some people though coasting is almost the same thing as wasting time. If you're not moving towards something or figuring out what you're going to do next then you're sitting idle. For them being idle is about as close as you can get to being dead while still having a pulse. Now I'm not that fanatical about my time, but I do find myself watching the metaphorical clock of life. It's ticking away and every moment spent in a situation that doesn't feel right is a moment lost forever.
Maybe it's not as common as it used to be, but there was this idea that if you paid in advance now then eventually you would be rewarded for your efforts later. Eat your vegetables and you can have dessert. Problem was that sometimes you were too full for dessert because the vegetables filled you up. If you were like me, that didn't stop you from eating the dessert anyway because you earned it and it would be stupid to not take what you worked for. That same general idea comes into play with working for over thirty years until you're eligible to retire and then you can go enjoy yourself. Sure along the way you can take vacations or holidays so it's not like you've spent every day trudging towards your reward. Still by the time you make it to that promised land of retirement you're much older than when you started out and in some cases the options you once had are no longer valid. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everyone who retires is too old to enjoy it, but maybe we've created a situation where we spent most of our best years working towards what's next rather than actually enjoying it.
It doesn't really matter how good your situation could be. Sometimes it can't be helped to think about the next thing. Monday comes and thoughts of Friday start filling our heads. The week itself may be filled with various events, both good and bad or maybe just bland. The circle of thought has already started though. If on Monday we think about the upcoming Friday, then it doesn't take a large leap on Friday to know that Monday is just around the corner, in which case we've created a trap for ourselves where the present is always taking a backseat to the future. By doing that can we really ever enjoy either?
Some people are happy with their current situation. They enjoy the moment for what it is, because those moments are somewhat precious if you think about it. We don't know how many we're going to get. As I've mentioned, everything is fleeting so today doesn't necessarily equal tomorrow. These people could be fortunate enough that they've found what they're looking for or they simply don't worry about what comes next because for the most part they're in a pretty good place. Now that's not to say that people who are happy don't think about the future or the next thing. I'm sure happy people put forth a lot of effort to make sure that their situation is what they want it to be. There are probably situations where circumstances just fall into place for them so it takes very little effort. If your situation isn't quite what you want then it's probably natural to start wondering how you're going to get to where you want to be. I'm of the mind that if you're not happy with something then time spent that way is being wasted. Sometimes we have to do things that we don't want because the payoff later is worth it. That's just how life is sometimes. I get that. Still unlike some people I just don't want to accept something that in my mind is second best when I know what I really want may be just around the corner. I suppose the trick to it all is keeping an eye on what's next, but also enjoying what you have now. If someone figures out how to do that, please tell me how.
