On a Pragmatic View of Tomorrow

“Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busybody, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil.” — Marcus Aurelius.

Somewhere along the way I noticed a trait in myself that set me apart from a lot of people around me. While most of them were straining to do everything possible so that “tomorrow would be better than yesterday,” I looked at the future differently. I understood — and was ready for the fact — that tomorrow would bring new problems and new conflicts, that there would only be more responsibility, and that the interdependencies would grow knottier and more tangled. These are the inevitable companions of personal growth, of a business that’s expanding, of widening influence.

And yet this isn’t pessimism — it’s an absence of expectations. That approach saved my sanity back then, and it saves it to this day. I’m ready for anything, I have my goals, but I hold no illusions. I know I can count only on myself, even as I value beyond measure the people who support me. And any good things that come — which, by the way, happen often — become a perfect occasion for sincere, unconditional joy!

I’ve noticed that the people who live in constant hope that today’s effort will spare them new problems tomorrow often burn out. Their expectations don’t pan out, and in the end that erodes their motivation and their faith in themselves.

Here’s to all of us — to building no inflated expectations, and to rejoicing with our whole heart when the goals do turn out to be reached! 😎