Tomorrow vs. Today

I get ridiculously excited thinking about all of the opportunities I have to do whatever I want with the rest of my life. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to do with my time, researching different "paths of life" and pondering what it might be like down each one.

I'm a bit of a daydreamer. This is beneficial because my curiosity of what's out there has brought me knowledge (sometimes useful, sometimes not) on random topics, scholarship opportunities, careers I didn't know existed, acknowledgment of internship openings etc.

I like to make a lot of lists, waste time looking for job openings in non-profits near me even though i'm only halfway through college, and get excited about the future. The only con to this strive for future ambition is that I have to remind myself to stop living so much running towards the future and just enjoy every day in the moment. We spend so much time planning tomorrow and when tomorrow comes we don't enjoy it because there's another tomorrow that needs planning.

Today is an unrepeatable gift given to us by God that we should celebrate. 

I have been finding over the past month or so that the way I start my day determines whether I will be appreciative and eager to live for today or not. I keep a daily devotional by my bed and when I wake up and read my page for the day, I feel more peaceful, and not so much as if I am on my own because I am reminded that He is with us always. When I start my day and drink coffee, I am also much happier. I think I've developed a coffee addiction actually...I don't go a day without either coffee or those Starbucks Refreshers. When I wake up and lay in bed for a few minutes thinking about how lucky I am to get another chance to live another day, and how blessed I am and how I have to opportunity to make other people's lives better motivates me.

(Tangent: You don't even have to do community service to make someone else's life better. You can compliment someone you usually don't, or offer to do one of your coworkers copy jobs down the hall for them, or bring someone a cookie from the cafeteria, or just give someone a random hug. Today at Walmart I complimented a middle-aged woman's necklace and she smiled. I gave my roommate a random hug while she was getting ready for class. I played with my coworkers hair because I know she likes it.)

On a shallow note, I also find that if I make an effort to look good, I feel good, and then I am more able to focus on being positive, friendly and talkative.

You have to find a balance between the future and the present, tomorrow and today.