Tomorrow Is Not Promised
We live for a future that never arrives.
We live as if tomorrow is promised - as if happiness is something we can schedule for later.
We convince ourselves that someday we’ll finally rest, someday we’ll slow down, someday we’ll be happy.
But someday never comes. It’s a mirage we chase so we can avoid living today.
We place our peace in the hands of a future we’re not guaranteed to see. And in doing so, we trade the only thing that’s truly ours - this present moment - for a story that may never unfold.
The Illusion of “Someday”
Even though I have memento mori tattooed on my arm - a reminder that I could die any day - I still forget what it really means.
I live as if tomorrow is guaranteed. I tell myself I’ll be more present when things slow down. I’ll say I’m sorry tomorrow. I’ll love better tomorrow. I’ll start living when the pressure eases.
But tomorrow doesn’t care about my plans.
It could end in an instant - a car crash, a diagnosis, a phone call that changes everything. And when that day comes, the world will move on. People will scroll past my name, pause for a moment, and then life will continue.
That thought doesn’t make me bitter. It makes me awake.
Because it means today - right now - is all I really have.
What Matters Most
That’s why I write. That’s why I share these thoughts at all.
I don’t want to live a life purely chasing money possessions. But I also don’t want to live one limited by lack - unable to provide for the people I love, or create what I’m capable of.
I want my life to mean something. To create ripples that outlast me.
Not because I think the world will remember my name, but because the people I touch - even in small ways - might live better because I existed.
I don’t want to get to the end of my life and realize I was too distracted to notice the sunsets. Too buried in ambition to see the people standing beside me. Too obsessed with tomorrow to love today.
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.” - Seneca
The Balance Between Ambition and Presence
There’s a strange balance we all wrestle with - between living for the future and living in the present.
Ignore the future, and you drift. Live only for it, and you forget to exist.
The goal isn’t to choose one over the other - it’s to bring purpose into both.
To live today intentionally toward something that matters tomorrow.
To build with presence.
To plan with gratitude.
“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.” - Marcus Aurelius
We can only live maximally when we live with both feet in the present, building something worthy of the future.
Choosing Meaning Over Maintenance
Life will always be uncertain. Tomorrow is never promised. But that’s what makes today sacred.
To choose to do something meaningful - even something small - is a privilege.
Many people don’t get that choice. They’re just surviving, reacting to whatever comes. But for those of us who can choose, we owe it to ourselves - and to the people who can’t - to build something that matters.
“Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself.” - Viktor Frankl
We don’t get to decide how long we’re here. But we do get to decide what we do with the time we have.
And maybe that’s enough.
Someday isn’t coming.
There’s only today - this fleeting, beautiful moment - the one we waste so easily.
Live it. Forgive quickly. Build what matters.
Be here, now.
Because tomorrow isn’t promised.
Love this
Beautiful