Stop "If I Could Just"-ing Your Life

As the new year came around, I started doing all my "new year" routings: thinking about all the things we could do in 2022, planning our 2022 budget, looking at needs -vs- wants, etc.  And as I started through my list, the first few weeks of the year past.  Suddenly it was middle-end of January, and the questions started.  

"Are we going to (blank)?"

"When can we (blank)?"

"What about (blank)?"

"Can we get (blank)?"

And in response to them all, I found myself saying "As soon as...." and "If we can just get to...." THEN we can do XYZ.

After a few days of that I found myself a tad dumbstruck.  It's not for poor planning or uninformed intentions, and I'm a full proponent of taking control of your life so you can live the life you want (which sometimes means putting off the immediate gratification for the long-term dream), but EVERYTHING I was responding to included those phrases.

So I took a moment and stepped back and really looked at what I was saying and how I was thinking about 2022.  Not everything can wait.  Not everything should wait.  Sometimes, some things are just "do now and enjoy" things.   And that's what I wanted to relay.  Stop "If I could just"-ing your life and live it.  Now.  If you "If I could just get that raise" or "If I can just make it to next week with what I have" or "If I could just get a nice day out so we could be outside to do those thing", you'll find you spend more time waiting and less time enjoying.  It won't always be perfect, and it won't always be the way you imagine.  So maybe you get the burger without the large fry and drink, but you get to enjoy your favorite burger.  Maybe you finally buy the lawnmower because yours has been on the fritz for two years and in the long run it will make everything better.  Maybe you just call that person back and appreciate the gaps in the familial relationship and stop waiting for him or her to make the move.  Maybe you start saving for retirement - not as much as you had wanted, but at least it's something!

There's always "something else".  Gratitude means appreciating what you have (now, not later).  So to really enjoy 2022, I hope for you that you can stop "if I could just"-ing your life, and find the joy in living it now.