Living in the Moment is Okay, but Keeping an Eye Ahead is Smart
Your future has already begun influenced by the choices and decisions you have made.
As a youngster today, you are constantly asked to live in the moment. Advertising and marketing grab your attention and pull you toward the here and now. The implication is that life revolves around fun and immediate satisfaction with a blind eye toward planning and responsibility. The future? Worry about that later. Do this today, buy this today and look like this today are unavoidable messages and we are seeing the toll these are taking on your fellow teenagers.
Granted, there are some things worth living for in the moment — a swim, movie, vacation, hooking up with friends are things you want to get into and have fun doing. If not, how would you be capable of feeling joy and pleasure, both of which are important to living a full life. But, ignoring the future for the sake of instant gratification is a mistake which can result in a ton of wasted opportunities.
It must seem that you are at a crossroad daily with the options you have and the decisions to make. Your choices, even the ones which may seem insignificant, create the person you are and will become. Making good ones will set you up for a rewarding future. Making poor ones will send you spiraling down to places which you will not want to be nor ever envisioned yourself being.
The friends you hang with, the amount of attention you give to academics, the work ethic you put toward projects and practice will become a big part of predicting the quality of your future life. Life is never altogether easy. You will encounter your share of disappointing times and outcomes. That’s reality. But, by making sound, well thought out choices now, you can make your own future brighter and less painful.
Consider for a moment the adults around your school and community. Examine their current lives. Observe their behavior. They arrived where they are not by accident, but by managing their lives from as early as their teenage years. They made good decisions along the way which put them in the positions they are today. You can do the same thing and arrive at a similar place in your life. But, it is vital that you begin giving your future some thought and start to put a vision together of what you see yourself being as an adult. Then, keeping that dream alive and a constant part of your thinking, you can inch closer to achieving your dream every day with every choice you make.
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