There is a beautiful saying that claims that life happens while you’re busy making other plans. It is very easy to live in some kind of future where you’re constantly planning, striving and waiting for some future reward. And by the time that comes around, you’re already busy working on the next thing.

According to psychology research, living in the future is a key source of anxiety. There is of course also the opposite where you live in the past and constantly relive, typically bad, situations where you screwed up in some way or were the victim of outside forces. That is the fastest path to depression.

It is important to remember that life happens right now. Right here. Wherever you happen to be right now. The future is where we spend the rest of our lives and I am not claiming that we shouldn’t prepare for it. But not at the expense of sacrificing life right now. In the end, you don’t even know whether you will ever experience that future!