Looking Forward To

What are you looking forward to?

We are occasionally blessed with things in life that are both A) pretty much guaranteed to happen if we stay our course and B) good. Remaining aware and reverent of these events is a good way to maintain stability in times of stress or boredom. One time in May my roommate and I went on a late night run around the UIUC campus as it started to storm. Wildly. We were ducking lightning strikes and getting soaked and it was nuts. We eventually retreated into a building, unsure how long it would take for conditions to get safe enough for our return. I kept thinking, in all likelihood, at some point in the near future I will not be here. I will be home. I will not be in this wet, disheveled state. I will be near a warm bed, in the company of dear friends and a pretty girl. We hauled ass back to our dorm before it was safe, and when we burst through the front door, there was a spontaneous and ebullient outpouring of joy that involved crazy dancing. Thinking about the future made living it better.

Things I have to look forward to with no foreseeable obstacles to their occurrence, in rough chronological order:

• The publication of Fear.less
• Girlfriend visiting me (or vice versa)
• Vacation to New England
• Start of the school year
• Bunch of my favorite bands’ albums coming out in September

I use this thought process when I am sick. When I become better, I imagine the afflictions back into each body part and acknowledge that they are no longer there. Time has passed. I have transcended the illness. Feels grate.