July 2019
Those who know me well know I like to think, to consider things—mostly out loud, but also to myself. I think about lots of things: school work, my interests, goals, family, close friends, and such. Summer brings to me think about my future as I see life changing for myself and those around me. How hard will the fall semester be with 15 hours of graduate classes? Will I still have time to workout? What social media do I need to delete from my phone to help me focus more? When will I get to see people I care about? Sometimes I found myself overthinking these things, which caused me to worry. Futile planning for the distant future in five to ten years also involved similar unanswerable questions.
Don’t get me wrong—setting goals for something you care about is important; however, worrying and stressing over life that is yet to come is not worth the precious time. Parts of life’s journey may not be seen until it is incredibly close and personal with us. Think about life’s curveballs: who could have seen those coming? Recently, I thought about this topic more: the concept of incremental planning, slowing down in the now, and assessing situations after I have enough facts and have given each opportunity my honest consideration and/or best effort. I have also seen the fruit of deeply caring about fewer things as opposed to marginally caring about many things, which helps me focus on the now and trust that “time will tell” in a sense. There is a point to be made that having “more control” over your life is found in letting go of the parts you cannot control.
Instead of worrying about what you and I cannot control, I encourage you to be present and content with where you are currently placed with a hopeful excitement for the future. Block out the noise and the pressure saying you have to know everything right now. No, everyone else does NOT have it figured out. Focus on what you CAN do now. If we all knew how our life stories would play out, life would be boring, so here’s to keeping it interesting!
---Lauren Abiog
Lauren Abiog is a Masters student enrolled in Mays Business School
Don’t get me wrong—setting goals for something you care about is important; however, worrying and stressing over life that is yet to come is not worth the precious time. Parts of life’s journey may not be seen until it is incredibly close and personal with us. Think about life’s curveballs: who could have seen those coming? Recently, I thought about this topic more: the concept of incremental planning, slowing down in the now, and assessing situations after I have enough facts and have given each opportunity my honest consideration and/or best effort. I have also seen the fruit of deeply caring about fewer things as opposed to marginally caring about many things, which helps me focus on the now and trust that “time will tell” in a sense. There is a point to be made that having “more control” over your life is found in letting go of the parts you cannot control.
Instead of worrying about what you and I cannot control, I encourage you to be present and content with where you are currently placed with a hopeful excitement for the future. Block out the noise and the pressure saying you have to know everything right now. No, everyone else does NOT have it figured out. Focus on what you CAN do now. If we all knew how our life stories would play out, life would be boring, so here’s to keeping it interesting!
---Lauren Abiog
Lauren Abiog is a Masters student enrolled in Mays Business School