What Ifs and Somedays

What Ifs and Somedays                          

By John W. Vander Velden

 

We face a new year and find ourselves in hopeful wondering.  It seems the time to remember…to anticipate.  Too easily we wrap our minds around the “what ifs”.  What if I had taken that new job?  What if I had said something differently to a friend?  What if I had taken the time to….?  We all have regrets and looking back can make us wonder how things might be, certain that our life could be better.  “What ifs”…..

The season also drives us to think of “somedays”.  Someday I’ll have more time to exercise.  Someday I’ll visit my family.  Someday I’ll write that novel.  Too busy, we tell ourselves now, but someday…

It is good to remember the past…the real past…the whole past.  It is good to make plans for the future…realistic plans.  But we must take the greatest care not to let the “what If’s” and the “somedays” rob the TODAY and all the possibilities that this collection of hours contain.  To understand that the past is filled with missed opportunities and debatable decisions.  We are after all imperfect people.  But didn’t we make the best choices with the information at our disposal.  Surely things “MIGHT” be different, but we cannot know if things would be better.  Life is what it is, not what it might have been.  We should learn from our mistakes, but we should not let them determine who or what we are.  It is important to remember that we move forward from THIS place, not some imaginary possible location we might have found ourselves.

Just as our present can be stolen by past’s regrets, we can allow now’s value to be eroded by postponing the things we need to do into a vague “someday”.  This demand or that demand tugs at us all, and it difficult to say no.  We will never accomplish everything on our “bucket list”, but that does not mean we abandon the “pail” entirely to an indefinite future.   Hoping that “someday” offers opportunities which seem presently out of reach, is the best way to accumulate the  “what its” of the future.

So a new year has begun and with it new challenges, but also chances to reach new goals.  We should not put off all...our hopes...our dreams…or our health…until someday, because the right someday might never come.  Balance the daily demands with a few moments for other things. Grasp the chances as they come.  Stretch your mind.  Reach toward new heights.  For if you really take care of today, then there will be no need to worry about the “what ifs” or “somedays”.    (450 Words)  12-29-2015-1-8-2015