So this is a different kind of post but one that I feel is highly necessary as I see it happening too often. It’s something that I was super fortunate to learn at a very young age thanks to people much older than I. Now I have an entire business driven by that concept and I feel it is becoming more and more clear that I have to start shouting this instead of saying it. So here we go: DON’T POSTPONE LIVING FOR OLD AGE! Honestly, you are ruining your life. I can’t stress this enough.
As I said this is a completely different kind of post on My Story Of I because normally wonder about it posts are ideas that you need to think about. These ideas can help you change your life or simply improve your life. They are ideas because everyone’s life is different, everyone’s personality is different meaning that what will work for me might not work for you and vice versa. That’s why I provide you with options to pick & choose from. However this post is not a picking and choosing kind of situation. This is me trying to actively burn something onto your brain and make it stick forever and ever and ever.
So full disclaimer I am actively trying to convince you of something.↴
⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙⋙ DON’T PLAN ACTUALLY LIVING LIFE TILL OLD AGE. ⋘⋘⋘⋘⋘⋘
Stop Planning Your Life For The Future And Thus Postpone Living As Well
We have been so deeply conditioned to always plan for the future. To always set up plans that follow the structure of ‘’If this, then that’’. But what if the future you are planning so heavily and counting on bails on you? What if everything you planned doesn’t happen simply because the ‘’if this’’ didn’t happen?!
Before you think that I am a debby downer I am not. I am a positivist and a realist. Always rooting for you and hoping the best for the plans you have made. Here’s the thing though when are you going to stop planning for 10, 15, 20 years from now or worse all the way to retirement and start planning, but most importantly doing your plan today, tomorrow and the day after?
We are so hell bent on making sure that our lives are figured out years from today making today lose it’s power and potential. By making plans like this you are effectively postponing living for old age which you have to stop immediately. Don’t postpone living till old age, I’m going to repeat it till you stop doing it.
You know what the worst of it is, in my opinion, most of those plans that are pushed to way later are plans that make you remember that your heart functions. They make you feel excited and make you feel what it is like to have a heartbeat. The plans are things you really want to do. All things that we have been thought can happen when we have life figured out.
At Old Age You’ll Have Life Figured Out So You Can Do Things
This is a beautiful lie. Yes it is true that you grow wiser with age, however there are a few things that hold that construction up. One being you need to actually learn life lessons. Of course there are many ways of doing that but one of the most powerful ones is through your own experience which means you have to have paid attention and picked up what was taught. Something that doesn’t always happen.
Recommended:
The 10 Life Lessons I Learned In The 2010s
The 18 lessons I learned in 2018
17 Lessons I Learned in 2017
16 Things I Learned In 2016
Speaking of paying attention, it is another pillar under the wise with age realm. In order for life to teach you important things you have to actually be paying attention to what is happening in your life. Most importantly you need to be paying attention to the why and how. The influence you have over your life is bigger than you realize. I can elaborate more on this but there is another important pillar I want to discuss.
As you can see from the top two pillars the foundation upon which wiser with age stands is pretty delicate. It becomes even more delicate when you finally realize that you’ll never know everything even when you are the most alert person and life’s best student.
How could you possibly expect to know everything just because you are older? Is it realistic to hope that you know more? Yes, definitely! But everything? Everything you need so your future plans won’t have hiccups? Not a chance unless you know how to become the all known. Or you are of the believe that becoming the all known comes naturally with age. I’ll let you in on a secret: it does not.
Recommended: Young and Wise, Old And Wise or Old and Wiser?
When postponing living for old age for this reason, you are not only going to be disappointed but you are also setting yourself up to never do anything. Forget living life when you reach old age since even then you’ll still be waiting to have “all” or maybe “most of” the knowledge.
Through growing up you have to realize that getting life figured out will always be finding puzzle pieces in a maze. The pieces you figured out you have and the rest you’re still looking for or will never get to. So why keep postponing living when even at old age you won’t ever have everything figured out?
You ‘’Figured Life Out’’ By Succeeding At The Blueprint Of Life
When hearing the term “having life figured out” some people immediately believe that it means you succeeded at the blueprint print of life. This blueprint being primary school —> high school —> college —> great relationship—> marriage —-> kids —-> … —-> grandkids / retirement.
In this day and age this blueprint simply doesn’t work for a lot of people due to millions of valid reasons. Those reasons are now not the point.
Let’s say you did manage to get to the so-called “figured it out” stage of marriage but no kids yet. The expectancy of you to start having kids is there. If it is not the expectancy of kids, it’s a job promotion. If it’s not the expectancy of a job promotion it’s searching for a bigger house. I can continue this for a while but I hope you get my point.
In case you didn’t; the point I was trying to make is that there will always be something that either you or someone else expects you to be doing next. This holds true for when you followed the blueprint of life to a T or whether you turned into a W.
For a lot of people actually living life, you know those plans that make you remember your hearts’ existence, are pushed aside due to those expectations. The right time for those plans is at retirement thus effectively pushing living back to old age.
Selfish is a word that floats up when deviating from that plan. While it really is not. Simply because retirement is not a promised thing. Old age is not a promised thing. Being able to live life the way you planned at old age is not a promised thing. How do you know that when you reach retirement there isn’t another thing expected of you? You can find an idea of an answer above.
Concluding Words
You have to stop postponing living and postponing life for old age. Seriously you are ruining your life if you postpone living till old age. Of course planning for the future is good but planning for the indefinite future will cause you to miss out on life and waste your days. Your TODAYS, you know the ones you are waking up to everyday.
The future is as exciting as it is fragile. Planning on something fragile without building a foundation for it on your todays will cause it to break and then what will you do?
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Love,
DCPR.
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Ohh my gawd! This is such a refreshing post! I’m truly glad it popped up in my feed!
A very good read!