Anywhere But Here

For most of my adult life I’ve lived for “what’s next” - because there must be something better than right here, right now. A better job. Kids who are at a stage of not-so-crabby-and-demanding. A better body. Strong, fitter, thinner. A better house. A better car.

We’re trained to do that, right? We are encouraged to make vision boards and set big goals and write them down and tell people. We live in a world that has us focused on being anywhere but here. Our world encourages us to look at “what’s next” instead of looking at what’s right in front of us, right now. And while we’re doing that, we’re missing out on RIGHT NOW.

I’ve been like a professional seeker of “what’s next”. When we aren’t happy with our current state and/or we’re trying to get away from something we regret or don’t like about our pasts, we become very focused on the next thing…the better thing. And we miss it. We miss the good thing of today.

What if…just what if…we aren’t supposed to be rushing to what’s next. What if there is something right here, right now that we are supposed to find but we are too busy wanting to be anywhere but here? We want better. We want happier. Mostly, we want to relieve ourselves of the pain we are feeling today.

Don’t get me wrong, achievement and goals and striving for better are wonderful things that we should all do. But not at the expense of avoiding where we are right now. How do you know the difference? Well, if you find yourself discontented with where you are…I’m talking about that miserable, skin-crawling, wanting to be somewhere else discontented…then you are likely avoiding your reality. We don’t truly move on to bigger and better until we can be honest about our reality and be content and have joy in today while pursuing our goals and dreams for tomorrow.

Just like everything else - it’s about balance. Enjoy being “here” while you are working on improving yourself for tomorrow. Don’t be so quick to move on to what’s next. It’s quite possible today holds learning that we need to help us get from here to there.

Enjoy the journey.