Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow

“Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Don’t stop, it’ll soon be here. It’ll be, better than before. Yesterday’s gone, yesterday’s gone.”

Fleetwood Mac, Don’t Stop.

Last week I was reminded of a very important lesson. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow and don’t put things off thinking you can do them later.

I typically write my blog posts on the weekends but last week I put it off. I was planning on writing one Wednesday night when I got home from work and posting it Thursday. That didn’t happen. Instead I spent Wednesday night in the ER.

While at a complete stop someone rear-ended my car. Someone rear-ended me so hard they pushed me into the car in front of me. Someone rear-ended me so hard about 2 inches of their front bumper ended up stuck in my muffler.

Someone rear-ended me so hard they pushed the metal underside of my car up into my trunk. Someone rear-ended me so hard I spent my night in the ER getting CT scans because I hit my head and busted my lip.

The worst part? The person who set my life back, altered my plans, most likely totaled my car and sent me to the ER… he got away. As I pulled over to the side of the road in tears trying to get my busted lip to stop bleeding, he kept going.

I could sit here and replay the accident in my head over and over kicking my self for not getting his license plate number, but what good would that do? Instead I’m focusing on tomorrow. With no broken bones and no brain bleeding or swelling, recovery is just around the corner.

I could, and just might, write several posts about the lessons my accident has reminded me of, but most importantly, I’m not focusing on last week. I’m looking ahead.

When faced with setbacks or difficulties, what do you do? It’s so easy to fall into that woe-is-me mindset. It’s natural to want to look back on what went wrong and fixate on the things you could have done differently, but why are you doing that? What’s the purpose? If you don’t have one or you’re just doing it to feel sorry for yourself, you’re wasting your time.

When thrown a curve ball, don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Learn from the experience by replaying the events that led up to whatever went wrong and make mental notes on what you can do differently next time. Deliberately think about how you can learn from whatever you’re going through now so you’re better off tomorrow and then move on. Don’t dwell on the past just for the sake of it.

Still trying to figure it out,

Madison