Looking forward
to what’s ahead in the new year? I can almost guarantee you that if you’re not,
you won’t have too many more years, old or new.
Researchers have
found that people who anticipate what’s to come tend to live longer than those
who dwell in the past. My personal experience bears this out.
My mother-in-law
has spent her life looking forward. She’s interested in her next book, her next
bridge game, her next meal. She keeps up with the news of the world around her,
not the remnants of days gone by. She’s curious about life and the other people
in it. And I’d say this attitude has served her pretty well over time. She’s
only 101. The key word there, she’d agree, is “only.”
On the other
hand, I’ve known people for whom life in high school was about as good as it
got. They largely much spent their time looking back at what had gone before,
unhappy with the prospect of things to come. Not that their worry about the
future did them much good. They’re no longer around to see it.
Life, obviously,
is full of choices. You can choose to embrace what’s here and now and whatever
is to come. Or you can choose to lament the loss of the good old days, sure
that life will never be that good again.
Face it: the good
old days weren’t really all that good. Work to make the new days better, and
you’ll see what I mean.
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