This morning I was driving in to work and I reard a song by Rod Stewart called Love Is. There was a verse that caught my attention.
A day I'm never allowed to forget
There was a girl that I met who I dreamed I would wed
Forever our lives entwined
She said "you gotta stop worrying about the future"
"You know we're far too young for that"
"I wanna spread my wings like a willow in the spring"
I never saw her pretty face again
Specifically the line, you gotta stop worrying about the future.
When I heard this line I started to ask myself is this really true?
I guess Rod, who is twice my age and therefore wiser than I am, wrote this. He's probably got a better perspective of reality than I do. So I shouldn't dismiss this idea straight away.
But I do often wonder is the advice handed out in the media, music lyrics, TV shows, movies etc, is the advice and depiction of reality accurate?
For example if I do completely stop worrying about the future then I will end up only thinking about today. I might have a great time now, but any lack of foresight will probably leave me with nothing tomorrow, much like the prodigal son who took his inheritance and 'wasted his substance with riotous living'.
It is possible to watch TV and see stories depicted of people chasing their dreams, they go through a hard time, but come out victorious having realised their goal. Stories like these are inspiring, but it go back to my question, how much of a reflection of reality are they. Yes, these events worked for one individual, but how many other people are unsuccessful?
I know we are not meant to be on this earth to to be robots or slaves to the system of work to pay for food and shelter for our families, there is more to it than that, but ignoring these responsibilities by thinking only of today will surely see you suffer tomorrow.
I do worry about the future. I suppose I shouldn't, but I should also not stop planning for the future.
I worry that if I loose my job, I will not be able to get another one to pay for the mortgage. I shouldn't worry, I have been fortunate enough to be consistently in work for the last 18 years or so since I started a paper round.
I worry that if I do treat myself and spend a bit of money on 'riotous living', a holiday, an item of clothing or some other want rather than a need, that I won't have enough money to pay the bills. I have always managed to scrape by. I could probably spend a bit more on the fun stuff.
I guess what the lyrics in the song are saying is basically that there are plenty of other fish in the sea. There will be other great opportunities in the future, don't just go for the 1st one that comes your way.
And we can be guilty of this too. You could say 'carpe diem', which is becoming known as seize the day, even if this is not a literal translation. You could say, 'just do it'. You could seize the opportunity because taking chances will make you happy. But you could also say 'let it go' which is a very popular phrase at the moment due to the children's movie Frozen. Let this opportunity pass. There will be others, and there will be better ones.
An example of this might be thinking you have found the perfect item on e-bay or auto trader. Items for sale on these websites come and go all the time. Sometimes I feel like I must have it, I become obsessed with what I have found. I can't stop thinking about it. And then it is gone. I'm not actually that devastated and before too long I have found another perfect item to obsess over.
So what's the point of all my thinking and this blog entery?
I guess, as I have continued to ponder this idea of seizing the opportunity verses letting it go, we need to consider our happiness, we should always do what makes us happy. We shouldn't compromise our future either, so decisions need to be balanced and we need to ask ourselves how frequent these opportunities are likely to come and happy they will make us.
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