Drop The Future Tense - Act In The Present
The familiar, non threatening, beep repeated three times. First in my left ear and then again a minute later in my right ear. The beeps came from my hearing aids, alerting me to the fact that the batteries would need replacing soon.
I refused to let it dampen my mood, as I was out walking and wouldn’t be able to do anything until I got home. What was damp and increasingly becoming dark and slick, was my jacket as it started to become wetter from the small amount of rain that had just started to fall.
The “spitting” rain, as it’s called here, didn’t last long, but it worried me slightly as the last time I was outside I nearly got caught in a heavy downpour and I certainly didn’t want an encore performance.
The walk was to the my nearest petrol / gas station or OTR (short for On The Run, a small mini supermarket that also has a Subway restaurant in it) to get what we call diet soft drink. They normally have 3, 2 litre bottles for cheap if you buy them from outside rather than from fridge. The walk is only 15 minutes or so to get there.
I also needed to get away from the internet for a little bit. Tensions care easily flare when people are under pressure and I have already lost decade long friendships over trivial things. It’s never the big stuff, like sides of politics or favourite football teams (same thing really, although I am not sure who more frequently drops the ball).
It gave me time to exercise and process things better; time away from the matrix (think Doctor Who, rather than Keanu Reeves) of social media.
The Future’s Tense
One common theme I am seeing emerge on social media, is the idea of what people are planning “once this is all over”. This is natural as people don’t like long term isolation, and it can be detrimental to our mental health after a few months.
People seem to think that this will soon be over, and that we can somehow go back to being complacent again. Sigh. I doubt both of those things, but I hope for the best.
But I get it. It’s a mental defence mechanism to stay positive while under duress.
Remember a previous entry where I talk about “hooks”?
People are looking to sink a figurative and metaphorical grappling hook into a wall (representing some point in the future) and pull themselves towards it. Future goals.
They are a great thing to have, but future thinking can also be where anxiety and comes from.
The uncertainty.
”Will I have a job to go back to? What will the economy look like? What will I do for money? Can I maintain my lifestyle as it is or will I be living on the streets?
What about food? Will there ever be toilet paper again?”
The future is tense, but ultimately imaginary.
Gah!
Panic Leads To Poverty
Stop!
Look around you right now, where you are and your situation.
Breathe in deep.
Clear your mind.
Breathe out again.
Are you sheltered?
Access to food, running water, electricity and your immediate family (or the ability to contact friends and loved ones)?
Are you healthy?
Are your needs otherwise met?
What’s truly important to you?
You’re O.K., right now, in the present.
Do It Now!
Are there any projects that you have that you keep putting off for some future date?
A blog post, a video idea, a piece of art you wanted to create, a new skill you wanted to try, or book you’ve been meaning to read or listen to?
Don’t wait until this is over. You might be waiting for a while...
Why not do it today?
Or write a list of things you want to do and work through the list?
It’s up to you of course.
Personally, I have a stack of self help books I have to work through, and believe me I need some work! ;)
I hope to see you here for the next entry.
Until then, stay safe and let me know what you’re planning on doing today.
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I hope more people develop this same attitude, thanks for sharing. :)
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Wow this is the attitude that gets things done and creates the future now rather than waiting for the right moment that never comes, thanks a lot for sharing @shaidon, it's awesome.
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Thank you for saying this was awesome.
Thanks @shaidon, and keep up your awesome work.
I have always found that a short, medium and longer-term ethos as far as life has worked well for us rather than one single element.
I agree.
It’s the impatience of wanting this to be over and for there to be a return to “normality” that can cause anxiety, rather than looking at what can be done in the short term.
Eventually, we’ll get this thing under our control, but things will be definitely different.
Things will be different for a long time, for some probably forever. It's a tough thing, but a good wake-up call for some also I think.
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