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When it comes to advice, we rarely ever take every single one of them seriously. We value we place on advice is usually based on the value we place on the person giving them. That is to say, how you value a piece of advice from your mother would be very different from how you value advice from a total stranger.

But then, circumstances will also determine the value we place on advice. You might value the advice of a stranger more than your parents when you feel the stranger has more experience in the field you’re interested in, whereas your parents might have nothing at all to do with that field. The value we place on advice will determine how we handle them and how well we follow them. Some will only be taken with a pinch of salt and others will followed with care.

I’ve also gotten advice from friends over the years and over time, they’ve proved to be quite handy because I’ve learned a great deal from them and seen the value of following them. The one I’ll be talking about today was told to me by one of my roommates back during my ND days when I was staying at the school hostel. He told me that I should “Not worry about tomorrow.” Matter of fact, I should never worry about tomorrow, and let the future take care of itself.

This looks like a pretty straightforward talk, but when you think about it, a lot of us are not really living in the present. We’re either stuck in the past or always planning for the future. And if it’s the latter, it’s very possible that we will never get to enjoy the present. We’re always planning for tomorrow, we buy things for tomorrow, and we keep saving up money and food for tomorrow, preferring to starve ourselves today.

But then, we have to understand that only the living gets to see tomorrow. We have to learn to live in the present and always be in the moment. I’m not saying that we should live life without care, or disregard plans for our future, I’m just saying that we shouldn’t let our plans for the future stop us from having a good time today. I’m going to paint you a little picture.

Imagine a broke man who didn’t have money to buy food, but somehow managed to secure a meal in time for supper. It was a single meal and no more. He could decide to divide the food into two so he could eat one half that night and the other the next day. Or he could simply eat it all at that moment. My friend’s advice would tell him to eat it all. That’s not economical, right? But it could actually be the smarter thing to do.

When you’re hungry, you can’t function as you’re supposed to. Hunger can even make you feel you’re sick when you’re not. So, eating a little food would not really do much to solve that. You’d simply eat a little food now and then eat a little food the next day. This means that all through the night, you’ll be hungry and even after you’ve eaten it all, you’ll still be hungry.

But then, if you eat it all in one sitting, then you’ll know that for the next couple of hours, you’ve managed to combat hunger. You’ll be able to think more clearly and figure out another way to hustle for food. Because if we’re being honest, you’ll be more likely to figure something out if you don’t have anything else to rely on. How will you find food to eat if you know you’ve got something else waiting for you?

It’s just like how we’re warned never to manage water if we’re stuck in the desert. Drink as much as you can if not you’ll simply die of dehydration, even while your jar is full of water. There are people who are suffering today, and they can solve all that, but because they have some plan for the future, they’d rather endure. Sadly, that future never comes. Because for every “today”, there will always be a “tomorrow”. And if keep planning for that tomorrow, you’ll be planning until you die.

Now, what does all this mean? Should we disregard our future and live our lives as we want? No, that would be a very foolish thing to do. We should prepare for the future to the best of our ability, but we should not let it take precedence over our present. Going to school is important, but if it puts our health and well-being in danger, then it won’t be worth it. Saving for the future is good, but if that means we can’t pay our medical bills when we should, then it might not be such a smart idea. It’s better to eat once a day and be fully satisfied than to eat three times a day and still be hungry.

The future is important, the present is also important. But like I said, only the living ever get to see the future. Don’t get so invested in preparing for it that you fail to notice when it actually comes. Take good care of yourself and your family, and spend ample time with your loved ones. I know you’re working so hard to make sure they have a better future, but what kind of future would that be if they wanted nothing to do with you simply because you were always absent?

How do we know to strike the balance? How do we make sure we’re not overdoing one and neglecting the other? Honestly, even I don’t know. I guess I’d need some advice for that one.

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_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

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_{This post is inspired by the third topic of this week which is Ripple Through Time. Feel free to try it out.}

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_{N.B: All images used in this post are mine. The thumbnail was designed using Canva.}

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