A Study in Scarlet
Tomorrow is another day.
I actually said that to someone last night. It was online so I didn’t see her face, but I’m pretty sure she either cringed or smiled sardonically. Hell, if someone would say that to me, I’m pretty sure I would smile politely while secretly thinking just back away from the crazy person. The thing is, much as it pains me that I’ve learned a lesson from Scarlet O’Hara, I really kind of believe this statement. I don’t always live it, mind you; in fact, I almost never do, but I really do believe it.
Life does not have to be seen as a continuum. Today does not have to be an extension of yesterday, and tomorrow does not have to follow the same path as today. We can, if we choose, see each day as a complete start, with whatever resources and challenges we are faced with on that day. The idea is to break the downward spiral. Twelve steppers, I think, do this. One day at a time is one of their mottos, and to be frank, I started thinking this way as a dieter. They idea was even though I screwed up yesterday, it doesn’t have to mean I’ve screwed up the week, or my life. I can start again today.
The more I’ve thought about it though, the more I’ve come to think this must be one of the secrets of life. Maybe this is what it means to live in the moment, a thought that always confused me. What I’m thinking is maybe we don’t forget yesterday, or stop planning for tomorrow, but today, just today, we take what we have and we see what we can do with it. Those resources I mentioned before would include the lessons from yesterday, and the challenges would include the plans for tomorrow, but we deal with today, today.
Okay, so maybe Scarlet wasn’t completely off.
I actually said that to someone last night. It was online so I didn’t see her face, but I’m pretty sure she either cringed or smiled sardonically. Hell, if someone would say that to me, I’m pretty sure I would smile politely while secretly thinking just back away from the crazy person. The thing is, much as it pains me that I’ve learned a lesson from Scarlet O’Hara, I really kind of believe this statement. I don’t always live it, mind you; in fact, I almost never do, but I really do believe it.
Life does not have to be seen as a continuum. Today does not have to be an extension of yesterday, and tomorrow does not have to follow the same path as today. We can, if we choose, see each day as a complete start, with whatever resources and challenges we are faced with on that day. The idea is to break the downward spiral. Twelve steppers, I think, do this. One day at a time is one of their mottos, and to be frank, I started thinking this way as a dieter. They idea was even though I screwed up yesterday, it doesn’t have to mean I’ve screwed up the week, or my life. I can start again today.
The more I’ve thought about it though, the more I’ve come to think this must be one of the secrets of life. Maybe this is what it means to live in the moment, a thought that always confused me. What I’m thinking is maybe we don’t forget yesterday, or stop planning for tomorrow, but today, just today, we take what we have and we see what we can do with it. Those resources I mentioned before would include the lessons from yesterday, and the challenges would include the plans for tomorrow, but we deal with today, today.
Okay, so maybe Scarlet wasn’t completely off.