Will It Matter In Five Years ?

Yesterday was an easy day at work. I wrapped up my work sharp at 7:30pm and was sitting in the couch thinking something at random – my problems, my past, my failures, insecurities. I was sad, anxious. But… I was gloomy only for 5 minutes. And then I bounced back to my senses and was feeling grateful for what I have right now.

One of my favorite quotes is

"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans,"

                                                                                                                          -John Lennon 

I've seen this quote so many times but the meaning of it really struck me recently. (May be this is a sign that I not only am growing old, but am growing up too :) ). People are now a days taught to be ambitious, to be victorious, to be a visionary. We keep searching for something new every day. We ask for something better every day. But in this search, we overlook what we have all along.  

On a day-to-day basis, I change my mind about what I want to do with my life. They're usually completely irrational decisions, like I'll fly to Germany and just live there for a few years; maybe I'll go to a graduate school for one-year full time MBA or why not just take up some teaching position in rural India?  Now, I have begun to call these ever-changing thoughts as  "daily decisions." But if we think for a while, we would find that many of us don’t have an answer on why we feel the need to be constantly moving on to new things. After all, new things certainly don't always mean better. I guess no one really knows where they will end up in life, but someday in the future we are all going to end up exactly where we are supposed to be. So why stress about how we get there?

We are upset many a times when something does not happen as per our wish. A bad day at work, a nasty comment from a someone, a disagreement with someone close to us, all have the power to kill our day, sometimes our month. To many of us, everything is a big deal and we would not just get over the lumps and bumps of life. 

I recently discovered six little words that have helped me through stressful times and kept me focused on what’s important in my life. Those simple words are

”Will it matter in five years?”

When your day goes south. when the project you delivered had failed, ask, “Will it matter in five years?” The answer, more times than not, is no – not even close.

Lost a small argument with someone you are close to? Will it matter in five years? Nope – in fact, it’ll probably be forgotten within a week.

The washing machine’s broken down, the beds aren’t made, and the kids are running around in their pajamas, flat tyre in the parking when planning to go out, burnt toast, broken flower vase, torn shoe, missed bus. Will it matter in five years? Of course not!

Lost your wallet, with all your cards and 2000 rupees cash inside. Will it matter in five years? No – it’s a temporary nuisance, not a disaster.

As we can see, asking “Will it matter in five years?” is a fantastic way to put things into perspective. However disastrous our day’s been, it’s rare that anything happens which won’t be forgotten long before the five years are up.

When something happens that makes us upset, we must start asking ourselves that question, and we will find that most of the time the answer would be a BIG “NO”. If it’s not going to matter in five years, it is not worthy to spend more than 5 minutes being upset about it

If we look at our life and compare it to most others, we would find it hard to even begin complaining.

"If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back." 

                                                                                                                            - Regina Brett

I think that a lot of people give themselves way too many things to worry about when half of those worries really shouldn't matter at all. Sometimes, the answer will be “YES”, and this helps us to understand that whatever it is we're upset about is clearly important and deserves to be well thought through. Yes, we get upset, but taking a step back and looking at a problem on a bigger scale can help us realize that there are only a few things that really do matter.

So, next time you're busy thinking about what to do with your life and thinking about your goals, don't forget that your life is happening right now!

Whenever you are low, read these lines aloud --

“Who am I to wish for a better tomorrow when today is perfectly beautiful and I haven't even stopped to be grateful for that?”

 I know it can be hard to wake up and think, "Wow, I'm so grateful for another day!" If you're anything like me, your morning consists more of pushing snooze seven times, rolling out of bed and making a large cup of coffee. But in reality (after you have your coffee), if you take a moment, just one moment, to stop thinking about what you could do, where you could work, what you could have and start to think about how far you have come and everything that you are so fortunate to have, you will realize that no matter how far away your hopes and dreams may seem, where you're at right now is the perfect place to begin.