Someday.

I sometimes wonder if many of us are living as though there are actually eight days in the week—seven that come and go in systematic repetition and one which never seems to arrive. We make plans and put appointments on our calendars or into our smartphones. We set dates and look forward to the day when our event finally arrives. Yet there are some events that only seem to get assigned to that eight day…Someday.

What is it that causes us to do this? And why do we usually write it in pencil (something that can easily be erased) rather with the boldness of a pen? For most, the answer is simple: fear. It’s fear of the unknown, fear of failure (or even fear of success)…stupid, useless fear. But for others, it’s a motivation issue; they are simply too lazy to form a plan and set a date. And for others it comes down to safety in routine; don’t rock the boat, and if it a’int broke, don’t fix it.  What a sad day, that Someday.

Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays will come and go, but Somedays never come. And life loses just a little bit of its sweetness; a little bit of its potential for beauty, or happiness, or fulfillment. Somedays are a vacuous black hole. Whatever gets posted to that day quietly slips away into the unknown. It is where unrealized dreams usually go to die.

But Somedays are a weird sort. The more things you push off into them, the more things they dump back into your life—and not healthy, desirable things.

“Maybe Someday I will finally clear out that garage…”
(while it continues to fill up to the point of becoming overwhelmingly, depressingly unruly).  

“Maybe Someday I will get the courage to tell him how I feel…”
(as self-confidence dwindles and opportunity slips away).  

“Maybe Someday I will quit smoking and go on that diet…”
(while your body is assaulted by cancerous agents and unhealthy cholesterols). 

“Maybe Someday we’ll get together with that friend for dinner…”
(while something tragic happens and that friend is no longer with you).

“Maybe Someday I will pursue that job I would love to do…”
(while you drift like a miserable zombie, stuck in one that you absolutely loathe).

“Maybe Someday I will consider God…”
(while you drift day to day without a sense of purpose and with a numb ennui).

The amazing thing is, Somedays can become Mondays, or Thursdays, or even Todays. It’s really as simple is sliding that scheduled Someday event into one of the real seven. If you want something, schedule it. Put it on a calendar. Make it a goal—one of which you can see and often be reminded. And, should that day come without fulfillment of that appointment or goal (chances are, it could), simply re-schedule—but not back to another Someday.

What do you have scheduled for Someday?  What’s important to you? You don’t have to move everything to the same day, but if you leave things where they are and don’t make an effort, Someday will never come.