[Spliffdaddy]

somebody here asked me why I never post any of my scribblings and stories at this forum. Guess I don't have a good reason why not. So here's a short rant that needed a home.

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I've forever felt sheltered, provided-for, and loved. Never a real want for anything, though a desire for some things. Empathy for the not-so-lucky comes easy for me. Mostly because I figure it must suck to be less fortunate than I've been. Even so, empathy and concern are freely available, seeing as how they typically have less than no value. Sure, I'll give you some...got plenty of other value-less things to give you while I'm at it. Here's some advice. It's free, too. And I have a bunch of opinions...reckon what are those worth? Heh. You wouldn't give me a dime in exchange. No reasonable person would, anyways.

Is life always about looking toward the future? That's what I was told, growing up. It was repeated quite frequently. Drilled into my head, so to speak. "Don't live for today", they said more than once, "live for tomorrow". So for most of my life that's what I tried to do. A few hiccups interrupted my plans, but all-in-all I've been predictable and reliable in my pursuit of "living for tomorrow".

OK, then. When in the hell is tomorrow supposed to be here? Please wake me up if you see it coming - if I ain't already dead from old age. Tomorrow, tomorrow. It's only 13,970 days awaaaay! (and counting).

So a couple of years ago I started living for today. I can say, now, with absolute certainty, that it is not any worse than living for tomorrow. It's a different mindset with a slightly different lifestyle, is all. You still pretty much do the same things everyday in either instance - so the difference is utterly transparent to the casual observer. Is that guy over there in the next cubicle living for today or tomorrow? Hard to tell from a cursory glance. If he had to be at work at 5:00am, but he wanted to drink and party the night before - the guy that lives for today could be found at the club until 2:00am, then he'd sleep in his car in the parking lot at work until his cellphone alarm clock woke him up at 4:55am.

The guy that lives for tomorrow would probably spend the evening mowing the lawn and drinking lemonade before retiring to his livingroom to watch the news, vegetate, and await the elusive tomorrow that never comes. The lifestyle may vary somewhat between the two guys, but, in actuality, they're both living for today - only one of 'em just isn't aware of it (mindset).

I pity them all. But then, pity is free. Here have some more. Heck, it's worthless to the extent that nobody will even sell it on eBay. That's my barometer of monetary value, by the way. How much would you get for it on a accurately categorized 7-day eBay auction ending on a Saturday afternoon? That's all the hell something is worth. And probably a good bit more than it's worth about half the time. But then, that's only my opinion, and I told you what that was worth already.

"Tomorrow", they tell me, "will be a better day".

What's wrong with today?, I ask them.

What an unimaginative, bleak, and thoroughly pessimistic outlook concerning today while at the same time touting the virtues of tomorrow. Must be that their life sucks today, judging from what I've seen. Mine is just dandy, today. It was yesterday, too. and the day before. I awaken each day and make the most of it. See, I don't know when tomorrow will ever get here or even if it will. But, today...well today is something I can use right now. Call me crazy. Or by its more formal name 'irresponsible'. I don't much care what 'tomorrow-thinkers' think about me. Maybe I'll worry about that tomorrow, mmkay?

In the meantime, I have pity and empathy on sale, buy-one-get-one-free. Sale starts tomorrow.

[killer_735]

Funny how 'tomorrow' does seem to always slip away. Isn't it also funny that just about every belief system is based on the offering of something great for tomorrow (70 virgins, heaven, whatever) as long as you do what we say NOW.

Time to watch Fight Club again....

[lil'babykitten]

This is interesting, thanks spliffy.

I've been thinking about this apparent need to plan ahead recently. Partly because people close to me have been trying to encourage me to build up some sort of plan in my mind of where I'm going and where I want to be years from now. I was thrown a book entitled 'The 7 habits of highly effective people' by Stephen Covey. Habit 1 is about being pro-active. It outlines the "principles of personal vision". It's all very logical, I can certainly see the strengths in forward planning. It's often a good idea to have a clear vision of where you are headed.

I haven't really read this book however and I don't really have any desire to do so. I prefer to take each day as it happens. You could spend months planning your future, taking in to consideration all the possible obstacles you might meet. The following morning you could wake up knowing exactly what you are going to do and how today is going to contribute to your 'plan', step outside and get killed by a car. So much for THAT plan.

Still not really sure where I stand on this. All the pressure people are putting on me to have a plan makes me anxious about my future. Sometimes I ask myself whether I've already made a terrible mistake that is going to be detrimental to my future. But that all becomes very depressing.

For now I'd rather think about where I might like to be, but still take each day as it comes. I'm not attracted to the idea of making concrete plans and starting now.

How many people have you met that knew where they wanted to be 20 years ago and are actually there now? More often than not I think people end up doing something they hadn't imagined 20 years ago.

**Ack, this post is all I, me me me I . There was a reason why I didn't post much about myself.. sounds too much like iWrite.**

[killer_735]

Three proverbs on planning:

"A plan is just a list of things that aren't going to happen" -Way of the Gun

"I've never planned anything in my life" -Cool Hand Luke

"The only thing anyone can promise you about the future is that it'll be nothing like you think it'll be." -Anonymous

[E's Lil Theorem]

Live for today, seize the day, but keep an eye on tomorrow.

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by killer_735:
Three proverbs on planning:

"A plan is just a list of things that aren't going to happen" -Way of the Gun

"I've never planned anything in my life" -Cool Hand Luke

"The only thing anyone can promise you about the future is that it'll be nothing like you think it'll be." -Anonymous

[phoenixboy70]

i've (basically) lived this way for the last 10 years or so, but it's incredibly tough, because my entire (social and familial) upbringing wanted me to do exactly the opposite.

otoh, one thing i have found out, is the value of "preparing for things". something i've gotten rather good at over the years, and which i had never paid too much attention to before, - since i always "had to" rely on my "good luck". (which, for the obvious reasons, never works out).

so, "be prepared and stay focused on the moment" seems the way to go for me.

oh, and if you really "live" for the here and now (the moment), you don't hate. it's impossible. everything else is lip-service. that's just the way things work.