Think About the Future

“Never buy four C-plus paintings when you can buy one A.” – Walter Annenberg

Too often the present and past dominate our thoughts. We dwell on the past as better times or failures that cannot be repaired. We often make decisions about what we want now as opposed to thinking about how this will affect us later. Rarely does the future play into our decision process. We allow what has happened and what is happening in the moment to determine what we should do without thinking about the long-term consequences of our decisions. Being considerate of the future looks different depending on the moment you are in. I’ll share an example from my world as a 5th grade teacher. Often, I teach my students about how our actions today affect what happens to them tomorrow when it comes to their classwork. I teach them that the more effort that they put in today, the more ready they are for tomorrow. Often times they don’t see the full results of their work until the end of the year. That’s hard for them to see it, so I teach them how to see their progress over the course of the year. They don’t see the full effects of their efforts right away, but I show them that over time they will see how much they have improved over the years. We have to teach ourselves to think about how our decisions will affect our futures, and use the past as a guide to take us there.

I took these photos while I was one my last cruise in the Bahamas. I try to capture at least one sunset while I am there. I captured this one on the last night of our cruise. It was a great way to end a great vacation.