This question is so confusing. We answer it in discussions easily. Fitting the answer to the argument or story we tell as though it had certainty. Declaring it with great confidence. Yet the same question can evoke such uneasiness and fear when we are alone and truly don’t know what will happen. Always thinking about the worst outcome first in most cases.
What will happen tomorrow is also a powerful question. For it can make us jump at things that are far more uncertain than they seem or paralyze us with fear not knowing if any good will be found in tomorrow causing us to not do anything for fear of being wrong.
While focusing on this question is problematic, it is the answer to this question that causes us the most trouble. For the answer influences our choices going forward. We make decisions based on what we believe will happen. Even though, each one of us would quickly agree that none of us are fortune tellers.
Our fascination with what will happen tomorrow steals our energy from today. For we are never in control of tomorrow. Quickly you may point out that you have been diligent in planning for your tomorrow. Working towards it by putting together the building blocks that will make your tomorrow real.
But there is a difference. While it is good to set goals or paint pictures of tomorrow, you need to understand that they are made with hope not certainty. You aspire to a future that is different than today. This is great to do. You must recognize though, that the process you go through to figure out next steps will influence your tomorrow. Not guarantee it.
For outcomes are always uneven and uncertain. Outcomes that appear magically are called luck. Bad outcomes may result from solid next steps that just didn’t work out this time but may the next. We don’t have an easy way to grade our accuracy between what we thought would happen against what actually did. This makes it hard for us to become aware of how good or poor our judgment is in predicting the future.
Fixating on what will happen tomorrow and trying to answer it truly gets us into trouble. Far better and more effective to focus on today. For that is the only thing within our control.
How you spend the 1,440 minutes you are given today, will have a much greater impact on your life then spending time being deceived by both the question and your fascination with answering the question as to “what will happen tomorrow”.
A question whose answer you will rarely get right.