The sun sets on another day…
I watch the sunset fade away and become no more. I hold the beauty with me because it is exactly all that and a bag of chips. In the middle of it all I could do nothing but smile.
Yesterday I talked about whining about the past. It is particularly pertinent to me because so many people I know tell me all about their past but don’t try to learn from it. I’m hopeful that some will. The second part of the three things I try to reinforce is don’t pine about the future.
It’s kind of funny that the movie Back to the Future took three movies to get to the point. All the while there was a picture and a fax that were guiding what was going to happen and the responses were to try to change that. It would be interesting seeing how people would try to change the world if they were given the opportunity because often those people only see a small part of how things are interconnected.
Books and movies have taken a different route with Piers Anthony showing alternative as a series of hexagons, and modern marvel giving us alternative universes one after one. It is quite mind-boggling how crazy it can be and often I become enamored with the possibilities. In the movie Everything Everywhere all at Once it goes to the ridiculous and the infinite alternatives of every passing second. This movie as well as a previous movie called The One took it to a new level where we could visit across the multiverse and somehow make ourselves feel a little bit better about the world that we were in.
Who knows, any or all of that could be true. Science will eventually either explain it or resolve it or one of a hundred other outcomes, probably a lot more.
For most of us though, the future is often a set of once and maybe a few needs, not set, and constantly baraging us with things that we don’t really expect. That too can be quite maddening. It is however, something that just happens and we experience it as the present and watch it fade into the past. Wow that can be complicated.
Worrying about the future or wistfully pining about the future doesn’t change anything. Instead, we have the opportunity to define ourselves every day and in doing so set our own future. All too often the constant worry about the future can create more problems than good. The constant pining can create negativity.
Occasionally I speak about being on the top of a hill and looking down and making a choice between paths. I did this a few times in my life and chose poorly. I didn’t choose poorly because I was making a bad decision, I chose poorly because after I made the choice I caused my own failure by worrying too much about how to get there and not enough about working with the present to make it there. Let me explain.
At events many people walk up to me and tell me about their book and how I should write it. They explain to me that they have the best story ever and that that story will sell a million books. They don’t want to talk to me about it because then I would steal their idea but when I asked them what they have written, they haven’t written anything. They are sure they will write a book and make that book the best book ever. I always offer to help as necessary and I can help people alone if I have time, there are even some people that I would happily give time to just so their story could get out there. More often than not I see that person the next year at the same event with nothing completed and nothing happening with their book. When I ask about it it is always something that they think about every day but they’ll do it tomorrow. They have wished away their opportunity to write that book.
I know this is a simple statement, but if you want to write a book, you have to write. Every time you state something like I will do it tomorrow, you ensure that it will never be done. I have written quite a few books, and the only way I can finish those books is by writing them and working on it everyday defining myself in the future by defining myself today. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it. I can give dozens of examples right off the top of my head but this post is already longer than I usually put online. I guess I’ll have to put it in a book.
So as the sun sets on another day, take a moment to focus on today. You can make everyday absolutely fantastic and in the process you will define a great future. Avoid pining about it or worrying about what tomorrow will bring, all that will give you is anxiety and keep you from reaching your goal. Most of all, be who you are and no one else, and in the process change the world as you can, no matter what.
Sleep sweet, love life, and here we go…