500 Words a Week - Just Keep Moving

We can get lost in how far we still have to go, that we forget how far we have come.

Where were you 3-5 years ago? What was your life like? For most of us, it has changed and developed. We are better people, with more experience and insight. Yet all we continuously think about is how far we still have to go. In this slightly anxiety inducing state, we can feel bad about our progress. Worse yet, when we start to compare our journeys with others, we can begin to feel hard on ourselves.

In these situations, we have forgot the power of time and compounding. You didn’t automatically arrive at the place you are in your life now by magic. You got there through time and hard work. Yet, we fail to able to apply this same formula to our own futures.

While this type of thinking may not provide conclusive answers to our current predicament. It provides us with hope. It shows that we are resourceful as we have made it to where we are, so there’s no reason we can’t make it to our next intended destination. As long as we accept that it will take time, we can’t arrive there overnight.

The worst thing we can do is because we feel disheartened when looking at the future, we do nothing in the present. The worst thing we can do is begin to embody a “what’s the point” stance and do nothing in the present.

There’s a lovely phrase I like to come back to when thinking of things like this:

“We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can do in ten.”

By expanding our time horizons so that we aren’t just looking around the corner in front of us, we greatly open up our possibilities, our potential. While we might not have it definitively laid out, we know it will take time. The important thing is we just keep moving. That we don’t let these feelings of existential dread stop us in our tracks. Even if we move backwards or sideways to experience something different or learn different skills, we are still moving with the intention of progressing ourselves.

A note I wanted to end on is that you are not alone in this matter. I write about the above because it’s something I can get constantly lost in. To conclude, two wonderful quotes from Morgan Housel’s book “Same as Ever”:

“When you are keenly aware of your own struggles but blind to those of others, it’s easy to assume you’re missing some skill or secret that others have.”

“Everyone’s dealing with problems that they don’t advertise, at least until you get to know them well. Keep that in mind and you become more forgiving - of yourself and others.”

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500 Words a Week - Sandcastle or Sistine Chapel?

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500 Words a Week - Choosing how we react/ Thinking about our Death