There was an article recently about the end of summer blues and how after the Labor Day holiday people become depressed because they realize they haven't fulfilled all of their plans for the summer. I am sure I have felt this a time or two, in all seasons. I always have more plans then times and it is sometimes difficult to take pleasure in what I have accomplished rather than feeling bad at what I didn't.
When I was in high school I had the opportunity to read my great grandmother's journal. (She is one of the reasons I later started keeping a daily journal.) One of her entries has really stuck with me. She had the opportunity to go to California and was really looking forward to the trip. But before she even went on her trip she realized something that I think all of us could do more to think about. We spend too much time thinking about the exciting events in the future and not in what is currently happening. She made a promise to live each day to the fullest and not to waste time wondering how happy the future will be because when the happy future comes, she will enjoy that as well.
That is how I try to look at life now, though I am not very good at always remembering to find joy in the day to day. As my grandmother always says "Don't just have a good week, make it a good week."
I think we, as women suffer from this more than men; they tend not to worry as much as we do. However, it is always good advice to enjoy the now because if we are always looking to the future - when that future moment comes we will already be looking forward to something else and may forget to enjoy that moment as we much as we had once planned. Smart grandma.
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