The Future is Fucked.
I’m the kind of person that has an obsession with the future, both personally and socially, I tend to spend a huge amount of my time thinking and worrying about things that are not here yet.
Yes, I’ve read and listened to a bunch of things, authors, and even self-help coaches about living in the now, carpe diem and blah blah, but is not about that, I can definitely stop in the middle of the day and enjoy the moment, the bliss of the weather, sharing with the people I care or listen to a song with full attention.
But still, I’m aware that those things that I worry about at some point could become realities, and more often than I would like, I’m thinking… well we are completely fucked.
At this point in my life, I can’t deny that I’m scared about the future, about what is going to happen to me, my dreams, my family and the people around me.
Personally, I am in a place where every step that I take will have huge consequences for my future. And when I wake up and see what is happening, not just in my country and community but also around the world I can’t avoid the feeling that comes once in a while that anything that I do is irrelevant and that the best option that I have is to take a safer path, predictable, stable and boring.
But also when I reflect upon who I am and the different things that I’ve managed to experience and see during the last years, I realize that there is an option that takes more effort but that it ignites an internal fire in me that allowes me to move forward.
And that option is to actually believe that things are going to be better.
Call it visualization, affirmations, irrationality, or dreams but there is special magic on it, and it helps me to move forward.
Around 2 years ago I read a story that reinforce this idea, is called The Toynbee Convector by Ray Bradbury, basically, it tells the story of a fake time traveler that convince everyone that the future was going to be better and that all the major problems that we have would be solved, he provided hope to humanity.
Now that I find myself on a turning point, deciding what I will do and how I will contribute to a better future, I want to share with you 3 things that I consider essential if you are having a similar situation
- We are the result of the stories that we tell ourselves
Reality is created by the narratives that we have about ourselves, our history, and our communities, and those narratives are the cornerstone that supports our beliefs and moral system.
A clear example of that is that we recognize Global North history as the entire reality, and our education system rarely allow us to explore in-depth the contributions of our own communities (At least in South America).
The same thing happen to us. Most of the things that guide our lives are actually narratives that have been designed to keep us where we are.
A first step to get away from this is to open ourselves to new stories, to new people. Curiosity and questioning status-quo are two of the most powerful tools to get unstuck and open new paths towardss a better future.
2. Hope is not a strategy but you can’t do anything without it.
As I mentioned before in the Toynbee Convector the time traveler lied about traveling in time, but he knew that the thing that humanity needed the most was hope for a better future.
The bad thing is just by hoping that things will be okay they will not actually happen, you need to be able to have a clear picture of how the things could look like in both the worst and best scenario, the worst so that you are prepared in case something goes wrong and the best so that you can ignite those first steps towards your goals.
And when you think about the best, thats hope, and thats the main thing that will help you to move towards the right decisions and have a better outcome.
3. Choose carefully that what you are consuming
One of the things that I definitely regret, is spending so much time watching the news or checking social media updates, most of those things are designed to provide a predefined and negative view of what is happening. To say it in more concrete words.
If one day no one had a fight, no one died, no one committed a crime, it would be a terrible day for news and media.
We can’t disconnect from what is happening, that is also a terrible solution, but definitely, we can control the amount of negative information that we are receiving. If we limit our news checking to once a day, (Unless is part of our job or there is a situation that we really need to follow through) I’m sure our mentality will start to change.
Also, a tool that most of us can use is to clean our social media, It takes some time but we actually don’t need to follow every single channel of news and of course, we definitely don’t need to follow every single person out there.
Careful, I’m not saying that if we just dream and meditate about it, everything will be fine, that if we just keep the good vibes the problems will disappear.
Problems and especially social problems have roots way beyond our day-to-day positive outlook. I’m definitely against toxic positivism, but when we are able to paint the solution of how the world would look like if we tackle the problems, I believe we have a better chance of solving them.
Take Away:
So in conclusion, yes there is a big chance that the future will be fucked, but I personally prefer to believe that it will be good.
My purpose with this article and with the other initiatives that I will have now and in the future, is to help people, groups, even organizations to have a clear outlook of how the future could look like.
