The last two posts focused more on how things in the past connected to things in the now. This time I want to lean into the future.
One can never know exactly what the future holds. Sure, we can make plans to do something, or have a “five-year plan” or something similar. How rigid these plans are, and how rigid we are, contribute a lot to whether or not we end up feeling like we’ve made it to the things, people, or genearlly, the future we planned.
As an example, you could make a plan to move to a certain state or be with a specific person in some timeframe. There’s nothing you can do to make that foolproof, however. Things can change, people can change, people can enter or leave our lives, our own views on life can change. If we account for that, and give ourselves the room and leeway to be flexible, if our plans come apart for any reason, we can just adjust them and continue on our way.
That ability to adapt your future to account for your current self is an amazing power to have, and will reduce a lot of burdens you place on yourself. Many of us get upset or disappointed in ourselves if we have a situation that doesn’t turn out the way we had hoped. That’s not really a healthy position to be in, and it’s easy enough to avoid if you stay flexible and treat your future as a fluid, instead of solid.