It is easy to get stressed about the what if - so try to live in the here and now
The basis of success for a lot of people is their ability to plan. For many of us planning is everything and we feel the more we plan, the more secure we are against anything unforeseen happening. That is true and having a red line or so called general big life plan is an advantage as it provides orientation and allows us to filter out a lot of non-relevant paths out there that face us every day. However, the problem with all that planning is that is it can lead to increased anxiety and stress. We need to understand that sometimes it is worth to take a step back and live in the moment, rather than always stressing about the next step or tomorrow.
I can speak from my own experience here. Especially for me as a German, living in the moment or the here and now is incredibly hard. It is hard for people that always think about the future and have a what I always call scenario brain where we think about all eventual scenarios that might happen in the future in as much detail as we possibly can. While it is true that this might protect us from some worst-case scenarios in the future, it certainly cannot give us the 100% security that we are after. This just frankly does not exist and we at some point must just make peace with it that sometimes life just happens in very unforeseen ways for us to deal with it.
Therefore, it is important to take time outs and really live in the moment. Summer is always a great time for this I find, as due to holiday seasons things in the corporate world generally slow down a little around us. It gives us time to take a step outside and for many of us to just sit on a beach somewhere and enjoy life in the moment a little bit more than usual. It is vital that we take this time with family to be in the here and now, without thinking about all the life plans and opportunities or challenges we might face tomorrow. We simply do now know what precisely tomorrow brings.
That does not mean we should not plan at all, but we should just simply not get overwhelmed and find a balance between the general big red line plan and the little timeouts we take to live in the moment. We need this time to be fully in the here and now and not worry about the next step or what may or may not happen tomorrow. I know this is hard for many of us, however we can consciously train to live more in the moment. If we force ourselves to do this every now and then and take those mental timeouts it becomes easier in the long term. It will allow us to switch off for a few minutes or hours daily from all the mental noise in our head.
I also find a child makes switching off and living in the moment a lot easier. It distracts you from worrying and planning too much about the future. Living more in the moment with your family is health your own mind and the interaction between yourself and others. We should use summer to try it and train it, to then make use of a little bit more enjoyment of the moment while we get ready for more challenging times that might lie ahead. The great news is, they will come anyway, and we can only face what’s coming our way and be ready for dealing with it. However, we cannot foresee all the bad things that might happen to us one day, so don’t even try.
Enjoy summer and try to live more in the moment – it will do us good.
