Mission-Oriented

Everything doesn't have to be this way. Goals are good. Future plans are even good. But, I think being mission-oriented around the clock can be bad.

Life, however, does tend to encourage such a way of life, I suppose. If you think about it, from the time you enter the school system, your only there so that you can graduate from high school with a diploma--establishing your ability to enter the American workforce. If you choose to go to college, then you, again, work towards graduation. These tendencies, however, pour over into many other areas of life. Before you even start dating, you are looking for your type--your ultimate mate. Thus, there's an end in mind before there's a now. Then, you are dating someone and it's working out, so you start looking forward to a wedding. In your career, you're feeling the natural flux of being forced towards the top. Do you know anyone who enters a job nowadays and says "I want to go no further...this is my end"?

All this is an attempt to do is point out how easily one can lose the present due to a focus on an ultimate mission that is not the now. I think it's fine to look forward to things, and I'm one of the worst about always wanting to persevere and push forward in every situation. But, I think that sometimes such thinking can warp life. For instance, when applying goal-oriented behavior to personal situations that don't really warrant it--i.e., career tactics applied to dating scene--it makes the situation uncomfortable and unnatural. So, I guess it's a fine line...between planning ahead and forgetting the now.