Hindsight has a beautiful, high-resolution, picture.

The screen is large, and we can see all the details we might have missed, if our previous view hadn’t had the screen size and clarity of a viewfinder. We can look back on all of our struggle and all of the many challenges that seemed overwhelming, and sometimes even insurmountable, and see that everything worked out the way it was supposed to—and with perfect timing.

I’ll be honest and admit that I’m writing this mostly for myself—because I need to hear it.

Maybe you’re in a place in life where you need to hear it too…and to be reminded that things work out. No, they usually don’t work out exactly in the way we want them to and in the time we want them to, but I usually find that what comes for us in the end is better than what we thought we wanted.

Right now, I’m struggling with a dream that’s grown larger than I ever could have anticipated. It’s overwhelming sometimes. I started out wanting something small, but apparently, life has bigger plans for me. I’m at that point in my journey where the inspiration is coming faster than I can manage it—but the next step continues to elude me.

It’s not a pleasant place to stand. I have an ever-growing stack of manuscripts, stories, and characters queuing up loudly in my head, and no agent or publisher to take me from this step to the next. Not that I’m not trying. I’m putting in the work there, too. But, I tell you this because I’ve come to the place in the journey that requires patience—and I’m fresh out.

I’m ready to be the me in the future who got beyond this point. I believe in this dream and its success, I’m trying to do something I’ve never done before: I’m trying to envision my future self telling me that everything works out.

I need that image of “future me,” calm with knowing that everything does come in its own time, to tell me that it all works out—that everything is okay. If I’ll trust the timing of the universe, everything I’ve ever wanted (and more) will come for me. That I should keep writing and keep putting it out there because everything is about to come together.

When we get to a place of hindsight, we can comfort ourselves that all of our hard work paid off, but maybe we can borrow a little of that assurance now. Maybe we can channel the inner peace of tomorrow and use it today. Is it possible?

I’m about to find out—and so can you.

We can focus on our goals and priorities and put our positive energy into them. We can alternate that with allowing ourselves time to rest—even if our dreams feel urgent and overwhelming.

We can practice positive intention, self-care, and visualizing the future as if it has already happened. We can let our future, more confident selves communicate to the self that is mired in anxiety, and say that everything is going to be magnificent, if we’ll just wait a little longer.

It doesn’t matter if the struggle is a dream, or a relationship, or our finances. Right now, hurricanes are lining up to batter our coastlines, so maybe the struggle is more basic—food, water, clothing, shelter, safety. We could be stuck in a bad job, an abusive relationship, struggling to write a book or paint a masterpiece, get a degree, or study a trade.

Our future selves have already successfully navigated this struggle, just as we successfully navigated the challenges of our past. Maybe I’m grasping at straws as I sit in my own anxiety, but the thought that “future me” has already succeeded at facing what I’m facing now is comforting.

Clearly, I’ve got this. And, so do you. If there’s a version of us out there in the future that’s already done it, what are we so worried about right now?

We can only do what we can do. Beyond that, we’re wasting precious time worrying. Believe me when I say, I know this is easier said than done, as I check my messages for the 100th time this morning alone, waiting to find the one message that isn’t actually a rejection.

But, today we can decide to trust our future selves.

Mine is telling me that everything worked out, where I am right now is just a part of the  journey, and all I need to do today is take care of myself.

~

Author: Crystal Jackson
Image: Holly Lay/Flickr
Editor: Lieselle Davidson
Copy Editor: Emily Bartran
Social Editor: Nicole Cameron