During some recent discussions about politics and taxes with my brothers there was discussion about my thought that there may be different views of the future based on whether you have children or not. I was thinking that I am always thinking ahead to a point where I've raised my kids and they are out on their own. I want to make sure that the world will also be a nice clean healthy place for them to raise their children.
Halley is talking today about keeping your "eyes on the prize" and lists a few exercises to help with that process.
"I want to think what my goals for my life are in the next five to ten years. I want to set those goals and keep them in mind in all the small things I do today."
Write down how old you'll be in 2014. - 56
Write down the town you want to be living in 2014. - Clearwater
Write down who you want to be living with in 2014. - "I'll be living with someone who cherishes me and wants the best for me."
Write down what you want more than anything by 2014. - To have watched my two healthy and happy daughters graduate from college ready to take on the world.
The concept of thinking ten years out and making it through college has been the major focus of what I've been doing for the last two years. I don't know that I ever thought that much about ten years out before then. I think that before we used to think about getting old together. Looking back ten years at the graduations of our daughters.
Back to the discussion of politics and taxes for a moment. My brother noted that the native Americans had a concept of the Seventh Generation. When they made decisions they would think about how the things they did today would impact the people that would be here 7 generations from now. Imagine that, thinking about how the things I do may affect not only my children and my children's children, but seven generations of children.
There are days though that I can barely think past lunch, much less seven generations. That is one of my struggles to be able to think about the future again, past lunch, past middle school, past high school, past college and to a future for me, as well as one for my kids.
