Future Tense

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? It's a question we are asked in job interviews, and it's a question we ask someone when dating. In our minds, it helps us gauge if the person has ambition, goals, and desires beyond where they are in the present moment. If we are honest, we all have a canned response that we may or may not be working toward. If your present looks very similar to 5 years ago and you were asked that question and gave an answer, why hasn't anything changed?

Many of us are tense about our futures. We have an idea of where we want to be, but because of past disappointments, we are afraid to take a leap, do something different, or set goals. That person was me for a very long time, and I can say there are still areas of my life that I am nervous about, especially when that future includes the decisions and cooperation of other people. I will never be able to say I have not accomplished anything, but there were specific things that I really wanted that took starting, restarting, focus, and refocus. In the things I have desired most, I have experienced the most opposition.

It's okay to feel uneasy about your future. There are so many possible outcomes and keeping everything the same creates a sense of safety. It's a comfort zone that so many do not want to escape. I say escape because comfort zones are a trap. Everything around us is changing, and our refusal to change, adjust, pursue, or desire keeps us locked into a reality that we believe we can control. There are very few things we can control.

Some of us have settled and no longer desire anything new. Some have no idea what we want in the future. We are so busy surviving in our present that we do not feel like we have time to slow down enough to plan. Some of us have a clear picture of what we want, but we are aimless. The lack of structure or a plan continuously wastes our time because we are stabbing in the dark, throwing darts with a blind-fold, hoping something sticks. Others of us have a clear picture of what we want, know we need a plan, but have not moved because we are unclear on how to get there. The vision is clear, but the path is not so we stand forever frozen in time.

Whatever category you fall in, even if you are somewhere in between, I encourage you to work through your apprehension about the future and begin to work toward what you desire. You may have to figure out what that is in this season of life, but it's worth your attention so you do not look up 5 - 10 years from now wondering where the time has gone.

In the current book I am reading, the author mentions this suggestion, and I think it is a great start. "Write your ideal scene for your life five years from now. Write it in the present tense as if you're already there. And then, once you've got a couple of pages, go ahead and look back and describe how you got there." We know the path you write may not be exact, but it will provide a starting point for you to move from your past that's gone, your present that is stale, to a future that you really desire. There is better for you. It just requires your action.

I will be doing this for every area I can think of; physical, emotional, and spiritual health, relationships - family/friends, career, passions, and standard of living (home, hobbies, travel) - let's see where we land. I'm sure you read the slight assumption that you will do it too.