How do we find that balance between working, building for the future, doing things that make tomorrow better, while at the same time also living for today, also enjoying what we have now? This seems to be one of the most critical balancing acts that we do, in that there’s a strong case for both sides, and both sides can go too far, so what is the right way to find both in balance? So, of course, we have the pure work side.
What is work? You are sacrificing in some way.
You are sacrificing the chance to enjoy today, maybe, you know, go for a walk, spend time with your loved ones, go to the beach, enjoy the delights of being alive.
And instead you’re not doing that.
Instead you’re going to work.
Why are you going to work? Because you are making a sacrifice of that time of enjoyment today in order that you can make a stronger foundation, in order to enjoy tomorrow.
So this is really work at its worst, you could say.
Because ideally, you know, you could also enjoy work.
It’s not pure sacrifice and suffering.
But, to some degree, for most people, you are sacrificing chances to enjoy the moment, doing something that you probably would not be doing if it were purely for enjoyment.
Hopefully, ideally, you get more than simply the money payoff for the time, and yet it is still some kind of a sacrifice.
So we’re choosing to sacrifice today for tomorrow.
Now, being able to do this, once tomorrow becomes today, when we get to tomorrow, that leaves us in a much better position than for someone who never works, can then find that todays are getting worse as you go by.
So of course, this is very useful, obviously.
But what happens if you take it too far? If you spend your entire life sacrificing today for tomorrow, and then you get to your last day, and well, you’re sacrificing for tomorrow, but then there are no todays left, so what’s the point? So that then leads to looking at the other side of the picture.
And there’s also a great case to be made that you should live for today, you should enjoy today, because we’re around today.
Enjoy the moment, live in the moment, be present, and appreciate life while it’s here.
Very strong case to be made for that.
Why keep sacrificing yourself for the future when eventually the present ends, there’s no more future? And so unless you’re purely self-sacrificing, you’re doing everything for other people, what is left for you to enjoy and take out of life, to be able to experience this experience of being alive, if you’re always sacrificing for the future? So then you have the other end of really living for the present, and just not sacrificing at all, simply enjoying life the best you can each day.
Which also sounds like a wonderful thing, but of course, if that’s taken too far, it almost becomes like sacrificing tomorrow for today, so that doing things that make tomorrow less likely to be good, cutting away, cutting into, the foundation of tomorrow.
Maybe spending all your money, maybe doing things that are bad for your health, doing things that could have a future repercussion.
So going too far on that side, we would then find that we’re living for today, living for today, but then as each day goes by, each today is kind of getting worse and worse and worse.
Whereas the people that are working sacrificing today for tomorrow, when tomorrow becomes today, then their todays end up being better.
So somewhere in the middle there is some kind of a balance between these two extremes, and my question is where is the balance? What is the point? And I’d be curious to hear, for you, where do you find this balance? How do you find how to balance the living for tomorrow and living for today?
#workplaybalance #livefortoday #livefortomorrow