{"id":51,"date":"2011-06-27T00:28:51","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T04:28:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/fearofwhales\/?p=51"},"modified":"2012-06-22T07:52:01","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T12:52:01","slug":"now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2011\/06\/now.html","title":{"rendered":"Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Someday I’d love to take a road trip with no predetermined destination.”<\/p>\n

“I’ve been meaning to see that movie, It’s on my list”<\/p>\n

“One of these days I’ll go back and finish college”<\/p>\n

“I wish knew how to dance”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How about we go do that. That sounds good, Let’s do that right now!<\/p>\n

No?<\/p>\n

Why not? We’re grownups now, there is nothing keeping us from accomplishing our dreams but us.<\/p>\n

Oh, I see “You don’t have the time”<\/p>\n

Well here’s the thing about time:<\/p>\n

Everything that ever happens, or has happened, or is going to happen, happens at the same time.
\nAnd that time is called “Now”.<\/p>\n

Nothing in the entirety of human history has ever happened in the future. And nothing ever will happen in the future, because the future is not a time when things happen.<\/p>\n

Likewise nothing has ever happened in the past, and nothing will happen. You might think it has, but you are mistaken.
\n\"\"<\/a>“The Boston Tea Party” you might say. “That happened in the past”
\nNo it didn’t.<\/p>\n

The Boston Tea Party happened in the present. It’s just that back then December 13, 1773 was<\/em> the present<\/p>\n

Now the Boston Tea Party is in the past, and that’s why it isn’t happening anymore. Because the past is not a time when things happen.<\/p>\n

Similarly you might think something is going to happen in a couple weeks, but it isn’t going to. Do you know why?<\/p>\n

Because a couple weeks is in the future. So nothing will ever happen then.<\/p>\n

Mid-August is a different story. I’m writing this in late June, so a couple weeks from now is going to be mid-August. And on August 11th something might happen. But when it does it won’t be in a couple weeks, it will be when August 11th is right now.<\/p>\n

Does that make sense? Because it’s important! It might seem like I’m being pedantic and weird, worrying about technical stuff that doesn’t matter. But it makes a difference. And It’s the difference between all your dreams coming true and not.<\/p>\n

When people say “I’ll do it when I have more time” what they don’t realize they are saying “I will never do it” Because you will always have exactly the same amount of time as you have right now, everyone does. That’s a part of the definition of time.<\/p>\n

So do it.<\/p>\n

Or else don’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Someday I’d love to take a road trip with no predetermined destination.” “I’ve been meaning to see that movie, It’s on my list” “One of these days I’ll go back and finish college” “I wish knew how to dance”   How about we go do that. That sounds good, Let’s do that right now! No?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,253],"tags":[464,461,415,462,465,463],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ace-posts","category-funny-2","tag-boston-tea-party","tag-now","tag-past","tag-present","tag-procrastination","tag-puture"],"yoast_head":"\nNow - A Fear of Whales<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/fearofwhales\/2011\/06\/now.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Now - A Fear of Whales\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“Someday I’d love to take a road trip with no predetermined destination.” “I’ve been meaning to see that movie, It’s on my list” “One of these days I’ll go back and finish college” “I wish knew how to dance”   How about we go do that. 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