No “Crystal Ball” Desired

Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?
Jet Pack Prompt 1/5/26

“Never erase your past. It shapes who you are today and will help you be the person you’ll be tomorrow.”
(Ziad K Abdelnour)

Yes I do think a lot about the past but try to limit my obsession on the future. For while I cannot change the past, I can use it as a specific measuring stick as to how I might move forward in my life in a positive fashion. Take the inevitable idea of change for example. A few years ago, some of my friends were resistant to using a mask in a crowded public setting and several of them got COVID. Obviously those who’d contracted the disease had learned a hard lesson to change their ways and that influenced me to make better choices about how to combat COVID exposure right then and in the future.

On the other hand, any overthinking ahead of time tends to create paralysis in action as I just dream up hypothetical scenarios that might potentially occur. So why should I do it? Consider again my previous example then. Know that thinking ahead about getting COVID or any other disease for that matter presents too many hypothetical “what ifs” for me to deal with in any present moment. So for mental and physical health reasons, I prefer to stay away as much as possible from fear of the unknown and other negative thoughts that such futuristic thinking provides.