Just go with what's lit in front of you

“Do not disturb yourself by imagining your whole life at once.” – Marcus Aurelius

If you’re an overthinker like me, then you’ll be familiar with the problem that Marcus Aurelius pointed out.

Overthinking ahead into the future, what you want, your goals, dreams, targets, and imagining all the minute ways you can work towards them. Sometimes it’s nice to have goals. But over-extending that thinking and imagining disturbs your peace, and wastes your energy that could be better spent elsewhere. Ultimately it is about control. Or anxiety around lack of control. Controlling outcomes and results, which are almost always out of the bubble of your influence. You only have influence over your actions. Results belong to God.

So how about doing this instead:

Just live day by day. It’s like driving at night. You only need to see as far as your headlights reach. You don’t have to spot your final destination from the start. Keep going with what’s lit in front of you, and the rest will come as you move. You’re seriously underestimating the universe’s ability to surprise you and turn things in your favor. But that only happens if you stop overwhelming yourself by trying to figure out your entire life all at once. – @dostoevesque

Not wilful ignorance, but not overly controlling either.

It’s an almost Taoist-like approach to life. Flow with nature, act on what you can control, let yourself be pleasantly surprised by what you can’t, and just each day live fully.

Just go with what’s lit in front of you.