Yesterday, a person told me that I had a quality they admired. They said that they have seen me “go down” and then pick myself up many times. I replied that I guess I do. (And sadly reflected that I have experienced this many times.)
As I thought about “how” I am able to do this, I attribute part of my success to not fearing the future. That somehow, I will figure things out. That somehow, I will get through whatever I am facing. With practice and repetition, this fear of the future is almost gone from my life.
In discussions where I hear fear, they always revolve around what people think will happen because of a decision or action taken. Rarely, do we ever write down these initial thoughts and then go back in 6 or 12 months and check to see if they became true. I believe you will find that the future never unfolds the way we think it will.
You see, we can’t predict the future. We can only continue to take a few steps each day towards something that we believe will be better for us.
We easily think of the worst that could happen to us when we are afraid of the future. Our emotions get stirred up and they over run our ability to see past them. Many times, I have found that even when I could see positives coming out of my seemingly desperate situation today, they rarely occur as I forecast.
There are many surprises that I find along the way after a decision is made or an action taken. My secret is that the future always gets pieced together with each step we take towards it. It never simply appears. That is why I find that there is little to fear in our future.
Where my fears do lie, is in the present. As I have gotten older I think much more about the present. Trying to decide in my mind both how comfortable the present is as well as how confining it sometimes becomes. Deciding where I fall in this spectrum is a continual process that leads to decisions and actions that always have an immediate impact but an uncertain future.
I always look forward to stitching the future together as it unfolds for while it is challenging, in great measure, I have found that stitching it together is also one of my strengths that have helped me through life to this day.
Care to join me?