Daily writing prompt

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

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At this point, any future thinking revolves around plans to visit someone or do errands or go out to eat. Since my brother’s death this past May, I have been taking stock, trying to come to terms, maybe, with my own mortality and the fact that there is much less life in front of me than is now water under the bridge. It’s sobering, but I know I can’t live in that state. It’s rather depressing.

I still enjoy having something to look forward to, and the grandkids keep me grounded in the present. But this is tempered anymore by the realization that “Some day, I’m going to…” isn’t said with the same open-endedness, as if there will always be time to get to everything. Maybe there’s a heightened sense of urgency to pick and choose, and follow through.

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Daily writing prompt

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?

View all responses

Hard to quantify, but maybe it’s still somewhere in the vicinity of 50-50. I spend a fair amount of time fixated on climate ills, the seeming intractability and ineptitude of certain leaders of government, and what this all means for our future.

But I can also pivot and take a trip down memory lane anytime I look at our digital picture frame or talk with my brothers in our weekly Zoom session, and pretty much anytime I decide to listen to music. My preferences are for artists from the late 60s through the mid- to late 70s, though I might have a few favorites from somewhere in the 80s.

It has been something like a switch being flipped since I hit the 70 mark. I’ve been doing more evaluating, more soul searching and assessing. More reminiscing, more coming to terms with the fact that there’s much less of life in front of me than behind, anymore.

Yet somewhere in the midst of all this, I try to navigate the present, which is where I’d prefer to focus my energy, but which isn’t always easy. This is where a certain sense of urgency resides, though– in the here and now.