It’s a paradox. How does one balance living in the now with preparing responsibly for the future? The key to this dilemma lies in the distinction between ‘worrying about the future,’ and ‘preparing for the future.’ The two concepts are not at all the same.
Jonathan Lockwood Huie
https://meanderingpassage.com//wp-content/uploads/images/2020/08/EBM-20170427121312.jpg
What he said. :-)
Now that’s a mobile home! :)
By a strange coincidence, I was listening to a conversation along the lines of this quote only yesterday. Interestingly, they could not agree on a definition for worry. One woman was saying that simply planning for the future was a form of worrying, while another argued that worrying was solely thinking about negative things that may or may not happen. The other countered with the idea that planning for the future was little more than hoping to avoid negative things that may or may not happen. It was a good conversation. Not often that I overhear arguments that have some depth to them these days. I’ve never been much of a planner myself. Maybe because I’ve never been much of a worrier either. After all, plans are what we make so that the gods can have a good laugh. I say, let them laugh at someone else’s expense ;)
Yelp, a mobile home driven by the tide and waves with perhaps a little input by the inhabitant itself.
I don’t view reasonable worry or fear as having to be negative. These emotions or feelings often prompt actions that hopefully lessen, eliminate, or accommodate the negative event you may anticipate. Reasonable is the keyword between healthy and unhealthy. Also, age is often a multiplier to this scale. My two-cent contribution to the conversation. :-)
There’s a reason this quote selected me. Having reached the latter half of our 60s Bonnie and I have been recently dealing with some of the reasonable possibilities for our future and what, in a worse case, it could look like. Reasonable worry or concern is she or I might somehow become a burden to family or friends in later years. But, when steps are taken to handle that possibility, our concerns dropped back down the scale.
Thanks for your comment, Cedric.
Take care and be well!
*Edited: 9/2/20 for clarity and brevity. ebm
Now would you say the crab is living the vanlife or RVing or both? Living in the now is the only way I can prepare for living in the tomorrow. Seems my worrying about tomorrow takes me out of the now, and doesn’t necessarily setup the future very well. Thinking my aging has helped me stay more present and not time travel to the future. Saying that I do my share of planning, even knowing the gods will laugh, and include some worry along with that. :-)
Perhaps a coastal cruiser lifestyle would best describe it. :-)
Thanks, Monte.
I think I’d prefer a mobile home with a bit more waterproofing in tact. :-)
For me, I tend to run the entire spectrum in future planning. I believe in saving for rainy days, which has help alleviate some worrying. At the same time, I am always wondering if it is enough with so many changes and rising costs in health care, and our own current health concerns – in how quickly that can be wiped out.
All of my hospital stay bills from July totaled more than $100,000. A figure I am not even sure how to process – one one hand thankful for my wife’s insurance, thinking about all those that don’t have such coverage, and how such a stay can add up so quickly. The costs with health care are just ridiculous. There is a lot more work to do beyond Obamacare and I get so frustrated so much time, money, and resources are lost in defending it or attempts to dismantle it.
And I wish our country could get its act together to develop something that alleviates that worry for so many people. To save your entire life, buy a home, plan for a future – and have that entire thing at risk of being wiped out just from getting sick shouldn’t be such a worry in modern times.
And I tend to be someone who tries to be more pragmatic than a worrier.
P.s sorry for the long rant, I recognize the contrast to the short post. :-) :-) Just a lot on my mind lately.
Absolutely no apology needed, Mark.
Bonnie and I have discussed how one major health concern or emergency could be a financial calamity. Being on medicare helps and from a concern while RV’ing we found a Medicare Supplemental (GAP) Insurance that picks up 100% where Medicare leaves off. However, after 2020’s health disaster, I don’t know how much the rates may increase or if we’ll be able to afford it next year.
Then recently our financial planner has brought up the concern and need of Long Term Care (LTC) insurance in case one or both of us needs care beyond what family and friends can provide. Looking at the cost of long term rehabilitation or nursing care, even in-home, will send you down the spiraling mental depression slide. With all of this, sometimes the thought of living in the moment seems like escapism or having one’s head in the sand.
And after the last three and a half years I don’t know that I have much hope of anything getting majorly better. We’ve seen an unforgettable ugly side of America and I for one can’t unsee it.
If you weren’t depressed before, you probably are now! :-)
Take care and stay well…for the moment!
Well, I am not even sure I want to look into the costs of what LTC insurance involves – I actually didn’t know there is such a thing – but am familiar with stories from friends who have gone through situations where such care is extremely expensive. In fact, a family friend died in a long term memory care facility from COVID a few months ago, and the ordeal the family went through before he was there to take care of him themselves was the stuff of nightmares. What a depressing thought to consider your life savings evaporating to pay for someone, probably making just above minimum wage, and a big facility getting rich off it, to take care of you. I seriously struggle with the balance between escapism and the sand as you say.