Now is All You Have
For the past month, I have been making a conscious effort to remain present, diligently training my mind and intuition to refrain from jumping between the past and the future, and instead remain focused on the current moment. I came to conclusion that as human beings, we are constantly caught between the mistakes and regrets of the past and the perpetual hope and envisioning of a perfect tomorrow. This predicament leaves the present as a transitional space, where we constantly toggle amidst a barrage of ideas. However, upon reflection, it becomes evident that the present is the sole true time of existence. Tomorrow is merely an abstract concept, as is yesterday.
So why then do we spend our present bouncing between two imaginary worlds and letting the minutes of the actual present existence just slip by? I catch myself seeing examples of this more and more when you force yourself to become aware of your own thinking.
Try it! I dare you. Start now. Make a promise to yourself to constantly try to stay in the moment.
The second you see yourself setting up plans or planting seeds for the future, hit pause.
The instance you catch your mind drifting into past scenarios, stop!
I started this little experiment for few reasons. One reason was that I wasn’t really feeling fulfilled with the way my professional life and my agency life was going. I constantly found myself building and creating infrastructure to usher in a better tomorrow. Creating plans to attract the perfect client. Dreaming up what that engagement would look like and how wonderful it will be when I will finally have an opportunity to work with this super duper understanding client with deep pockets, infinite trust, that would just let me be me and allow to explore my creative genius. STOP!….What the fuck am I thinking? Future client that would allow me to do what? Am I fucking crazy?
Why do I need to wait for anyone to give me permission to be me???
Exhale.
Another instance. As recently married person I find myself planning the secure future of our newfound family. What will it look like? How big of a house will it be? What do I put in my man cave? I don’t think I need a beer fridge…Maybe a nice, creme colored, Fender Stratocaster? Shit, remind me to soundproof it.
There, I just spent 30 mins of now planning the tomorrow that is not guaranteed. Don’t get me wrong though. It is important and wonderful to plan and to have a goal in mind but that is not all you can nor should be doing. I feel like I need to get out that hypothetical man cave of tomorrow and enjoy the time with my wife and my family now. But here is the ultimate dilemma. Where should dreaming stop and living begin? I feel like for most of us spend our time being occupied by the future events, some of the time, being dragged by the events of the past and very little of the time is actually being in present. Even when we attend events, travel or hang out with our friends we are pre-occupied with capturing the images of it, to be viewed at a later date… But you are not enjoying the actual act of living in the now. Feels like instead of sharing genuine connections we are just documenting a report that we will need to review in the future.
So what should be done? I don’t know and maybe I am not the person to answer it. All I am doing is setting myself for the quest of finding out what works for me. So far I can say this. We cannot live in the moment totally. Very few people master it, and master it well. You will always have a component of tomorrow and it is needed. Planning for tomorrow is how you create generational wealth. Planning for future is how you get to break generational poverty and many other societal injustices. But should we spend ALL of our today planning for tomorrow or should this ratio be reversed. Is it possible to enjoy today and dedicate few passing moments to plan a better tomorrow?
Do I need to wait for the perfect client? No
Do I need a permission to do what I love and create? No
Do I have to wait to be happy? No
So I choose to make it today then. I am happy today. In the now!
