Everything according to plan

Future plans – that is no longer a foreign concept for young people. On the contrary, our planning is becoming ever more tightly scheduled, because we ultimately have to adhere to the standards that are set for us. These go something like: finish your studies by your mid-20s, then climb the career ladder steeply, start family planning by 30, and so the whole thing continues. Certain goals must be achieved at each life stage, and that only works if they are set early on.
So if you don't know the answer to the question: "Where do you see yourself in 5 years?", you get strange looks. In short: the days of the ne'er-do-well who simply lets everything come to them are numbered. So we plan ahead and stick to the life path that is already fixed in our heads. And this is not just a rough list of a few points, but goes into the smallest details and is above all full of dates and deadlines for when things must happen.
What is considered normal nowadays can become a heavy burden for some. Many people long for more freedom, want to break out of entrenched structures and not think about what tomorrow will bring for once.

The need to have everything pre-planned is therefore not necessarily intrinsic. Our society is becoming ever faster-paced, and we must adapt to this speed. Thinking about the future is innovative and efficient and is therefore considered an achievement that must be delivered. On a societal level, one can only move towards a fixed goal if the individuals embedded in this system do so as well. This means that we are mentally always two steps ahead and thus distance ourselves from the reality that is actually taking place.
It is not uncommon to hear people say things like: "I want to live more in the moment" or: "I wish I didn't have to overthink everything all the time". Such statements are ultimately the product of a reality in which everything must go according to plan. They also show what psychological consequences such a future-oriented society can have for the individual. The feeling that arises has long since lost any connection to working towards one's own goals in a future-oriented way; rather, for most people it describes itself as follows: living with your head in the future whilst your body is still in the present. The extreme proportions that this takes on can certainly have serious consequences. Many people, for example, feel the pressure to constantly control everything. We have forgotten how to let situations come to us, and therefore quickly fall into a state of fear and uncertainty in unregulated situations. Spontaneity becomes increasingly difficult for some, since normally the situation must be thought through in one's head before it actually
takes place. Very quickly, the feeling creeps in of losing control, as if life were slipping through one's fingers the moment something unexpected happens. It is therefore no wonder that young people break into a cold sweat when they don't yet know exactly what they want to do professionally later, or
working people reject a new job because they don't want to be thrown into a new situation for them. The uncertainty of the future is frightening for many people. Given the fact that we will never be able to control everything in the future, our expectations of ourselves and of
others are completely bizarre. It is essential that unforeseen things happen – but this stands in antithesis to a system in which one must already know everything in advance. Strictly adhering to a seemingly all-encompassing plan is therefore not only pathological in its excessiveness, but also futile. The world and humanity are in a constant process of change, and whoever does not face these changes openly ultimately also denies themselves the space for development.
This is paradoxical precisely because the actual goals of a society in which the future is omnipresent are growth and development – but both are restricted in equal measure according to this principle.

The question that many ask themselves is therefore how one actually manages to shift the focus back more to the present. Simply stop planning anything in life? In fact, there are some people who act according to this principle and regard their life as a kind of flow in which they swim along. They live from day to day and see what
comes next for them. People with this attitude are often seen as a kind of drop-out from our society. In reality, it proves extremely difficult to live completely without plans in our world. Besides, planning per se is not a bad thing at all. Rather, on the contrary, it can be very enriching to imagine one's life in the future. Setting goals motivates one to work towards them in the present and to actively shape and take control of one's own reality. The question that should perhaps be asked is therefore not at all: "Plan or not?", but rather: "How much planning is sensible?" Striving towards one's goals can
be an exhilarating feeling and gives one the responsibility to determine the direction in life oneself. But it must not be forgotten: life takes place in the here and now, and not only the achievement of a goal, but also the path to it, counts.

Liora Shahrestani Mayer