A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving”.

A good traveler is not preoccupied with the destination, for then they would not be able to

enjoy the trip. This is the same for life: if we are preoccupied with the future, we find ourselves

unable to enjoy life itself. Most people today are so very preoccupied with the future that they

forget to enjoy their time here and now - and they will do so until there is no future to prepare

for anymore. When we focus on our future and all its possible appearances, we often get anxious.

We start to worry and feel on edge. This greatly impacts our ability to enjoy life the way it is.

If during a walk you are busy worrying about things like Will I ever be able to afford a house?

Will I be able to travel when I want to? Will I ever find love? All these worries impact our

happiness and ability to relax. You won’t enjoy the beautiful things you encounter on your walk.

The more we focus on our hypothetical future, the less we can enjoy the present. Moreover, the more

we prepare for future performances, the worse we perform in the present. You cannot be the student,

employee, friend, mother, partner, and so on that you want to be, if your mind is elsewhere.

Taoism, instead urges you to let go of your future expectations and learn how to be in the now. One

of the ways to stop obsessing over the future is simply by appreciating what is already there.

Imagine someone who keeps thinking about wanting to own a house in the future. By focusing too much

on this hypothetical outcome, they are probably not focused at all on their current living

situation. They might not buy nice furniture for their current place or put any effort into

decorating it, because it is only meant to be temporary, so why does it matter? They might

never consider it home because they are so focused on their non-existent future home. This means that

if they find themselves unable to move or buy a house, any enjoyment of their current living

situation seems lost. Even if they do manage to buy a house in the future, they will have spent

all their time before that not enjoying their living situation even though they could have.

Instead, if they allowed themselves to embrace their current accommodation as if this is all

they will ever have, they would have all the freedom in the world to make it a nice,

comfortable place worthy of calling home and enjoying. And then, if they do ever manage to buy

a house, they will simply move on from enjoying one place to another one, instead of having felt

out of place for years. The advice is not to never work for the future, but to never do it

in such a way that it completely blocks you from enjoying the present. Only if we allow ourselves

to let go of our expectations of the future can we stop feeling anxious and enjoy the present.