One, Five,and Ten

A dear friend of mine and I were talking today. As we have disclosed to each other at various times before, neither of us are happy with our current lifestyle. He suggested writing down where I see myself in one, five and ten years. At first thought, this seemed like an easy task. However when I sat down for this simple writing assignment, I found it to be much more difficult. It might be the fact that I was trying to use Excel to capture these thoughts and goals, but I believe it was something else entirely. I could chalk it up to the realist inside of me, but I know I would only be feeding an excuse. It was something deeper. I was afraid to gaze into the crystal ball which showed me the potential outcomes of my future. I didn’t want to set down these goals because if I didn’t accomplish them then there would be written proof of my failure. It would no longer be a whispering voice inside my head. It would be tangible and, therefore, the simple act was exceedingly more difficult. I decided to exit out of Excel without saving the meager progress I made. Instead, I choose to select a different form of communicating my goals. One just as tangible and equally as frightening, but a smidgen easier. This.

How does one even begin to plan the next ten years of their life out? The quote, “Life is short, do what makes you happy.” comes to my mind. Then the next issue is ‘what if what makes me happy now, doesn’t make me happy in ten years?’ I guess there is only one thing that will solve this problem, time. If it makes you happy now, it’s all that matters, or so I am told. If that is the case, many things make me happy. Sure I guess a few make me happier than others, but there is never one single thing that is guaranteed to make me happy every day.

There are so many issues with this topic that I have trouble with. Life isn’t always about what makes you happy in the moment because sometimes you have to strive and work to get to a place where you can be at peace. While the flip side of the same coin states that in peace all things will fall into place. One requires action while the other promotes inaction. There are substantial differences and an unavoidable chasm in the middle. You can’t have action and inaction at the same time. So what if. What if the problem with society is not the theory but the execution. That we jump back and forth from action to inaction so quickly that our coin continuously spins. Making the world blur and our goals and objectives always seem out of focus. Thus, the focus would then be the solution to the problem. If we focus, not on all the things which we want to bring into our lives to make us happy, but just one. KISS – Keep it simple stupid. There are too many thoughts whirling around my head at the moment to focus my attention on this subject. I will revisit this conversation at a later date.