The past few months have been all about now. How can we find a covid vaccine now? We are electing a new president – now. For me, I’m still just starting high school – right now.  But maybe the best way to get through these tough times is focusing on the future.

 The other day I was talking to my mom about traveling, and how I would love to go somewhere… in the summer of 2022. We have focused so much on making it through such a dark time in history that we seem to have to forgotten that this period of dead ends and false hopes will not come to an end at midnight on December 31. The “year of 2020” doesn’t really end in 2020. Covid, the election, all of these things will follow us into the next year, and even after that. So, how do we think about a future that’s normal when it could be so far off? 

I think it’s all about small moments. If you know you can’t go to Greece this summer, instead find a new goal that builds off of that. Maybe something much smaller like getting your passport renewed so when the time comes you can still go to Greece. Or deciding to apply to your first choice college even though you can’t write an essay about the service trip you were supposed to go on.

The future is always about goals and dreams. Now, we might just need to find a different path to get there, but have faith that things work out in the long run.