Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The Future

Where are you off to? Image from here.
I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I was kept up (in a nightmarish way) by thoughts about the future. I guess when you reach a certain age, the future becomes so close to possible that you feel pressured to measure up to the vision you have of it in your head. 

For instance, it was so much easier to imagine a bright future for yourself when you were fifteen, and there weren't a lot of self-limiting thoughts and hurtful experiences to contend with. Then, when thoughts of the future danced in your head it was all brightness and laughter and fulfillment at living up to your perceived true potential. 

Now, thoughts about the future are more likely to send you running in the opposite direction. Now, when your future is practically in the same breathing room as your present, you are made to understand how your millions of tiny decisions have amalgamated into the drama (or non-drama) that is your life. You are made to face the possibility of mediocrity, and if not that, of failure. You are made to assess the probability that you have turned into the very thing you have been working against.