Even If They Leave, You Win

14 Signs That You’re More Prepared For The Future Than You Think

1. You understand that living your life in accordance to the previous generation’s “safe” linear model will lead you to a dead end and isn’t guaranteed to protect you from unpredictable changes or potential catastrophes. Your goals right now involve figuring out a way to make passive income, empowering others to take charge in creating their own lives instead of having life happen to them, and ensuring that you open your mind to future possibilities in order to adapt to an ever-changing economy.

2. You are more self-aware than the average person and can identify how you’re different, how much potential you have to capitalize on your unique skills, how you’d build a life you love with what you have, and how you define success for yourself.

3. You know very well that you don’t have 50 years to wait to pursue a life that you want to be living or postpone everything for retirement. You are not crippled by an overwhelming fear of the future, but you are level-headed and wise enough to understand that seeking short-term thrills, meandering for the sake of escaping discomfort, and not being grounded in a solid purpose won’t fulfill you or equip you with anything that would help prepare you for the future. Instead, you pursue activities that are rooted in holistic wellness, and you focus on what truly brings you the kind of joy that isn’t fleeting or conditional.

4. You don’t depend on others’ opinions of you to define your self-worth or dictate what kind of life you need to live in the future in order to gain their approval. You know that it’s a waste of time to live somebody else’s dream and neglect your own because you understand that life is fleeting and you’d miss so many opportunities to secure yourself in the only way that feels right to you if you keep struggling trying to appease people who don’t care about your inner turmoil or how much pain you’re in from denying yourself the right to create your own life.

5. You’re ruthless about eliminating things, people, ideas, and beliefs in your life that only prevent you from living a life on your own terms. You know that you don’t want to settle for anything, and instead, you are always seeking to change your life, consider all possibilities, and pursue greater things because you believe that you’re in control of your own fate. You refuse to allow fears to cripple you, hinder your personal growth, or keep you stagnant.

6. You own up to your mistakes and take responsibility for your past, but you do not allow them to morph into a frightful, self-fulfilling prophecy. You have learned from your mistakes, and thus, you’re willing to try a different approach to achieve things that you weren’t able to succeed at before. Because you’re always learning, changing, and persevering, despite how terrible things have been, you are better equipped for the future than most people who just complain, get angry easily, and blame others for their misfortunes, while being complacent about their own lives.

7. You are content with owning fewer things, keeping only what serves a purpose in your life, and eliminating the urge to spend time and money on frivolous things out of boredom, stress, fear of not having enough, or social acceptance. You are smart about allocating your resources in a way that helps you move forward in life and become less dependent on corporations that don’t align with your values, instead of accumulating things that others around you claim that you need.

8. You view your own wellbeing and future life trajectory from a bird’s eye view and do not hyperventilate over the most minute of details or make catastrophic assumptions about your own life based on a few missteps, regardless of how other people’s rejections, condescending remarks, and judgments make you think otherwise. At the same time, you are mentally prepared to deal with situations that won’t go exactly as you planned it. You balance skepticism with idealism, and this allows you to strategize your life in a way that takes into account the intersection between your potential for growth and your current reality, in conjunction with how the world is right now.

9. Instead of feeling defeated by setbacks, you act upon the opportunity to evaluate yourself and face your own deficiencies head-on. You’re willing to adapt and change in a way that allows you to take more control over your circumstances.

10. You don’t concern yourself with the petty drama of people who don’t understand that you’re trying to grow, create your ideal future, and have greater goals in life than just being complacent with life as consumer in a society that feeds upon insecurity, fear, and short sightedness. You want to tap into your potential, create infinite possibilities for yourself, and free yourself from living an unsatisfactory and shackled life that was forced upon you from an early age.

11. You are not emotionally attached to the grandness of your dreams or visions of a monumental legacy. Rather, you have several goals that propel you to change and become more resourceful than you are now, but you ultimately know that if some unforeseen apocalyptic event occurs, you’d still be content with living in a secluded area where you can live in peace and enjoy your final days as the world burns uncontrollably before you.

12. You aren’t easily manipulated. You are able to detect biases, separate feelings from truth, and make sound decisions for yourself without succumbing to the temptation to follow someone’s advice just because of how smoothly that person toys with your emotions with the intent of gaining control over you.

13. You listen to and trust your intuition. You realize that in some difficult circumstances, the best thing to do is to trust your gut and act quickly upon it, despite how much others may pressure you into doing the opposite and how unexplainable your decisions might seem. You’ve learned quite well over the years that having a strong intuition has saved you from disaster countless times, and you know that it will continue to do so in the years to come.

14. You know the greatest ultimate truth – that life won’t last forever. You proceed with caution and self-preservation, yet you are bold and resilient enough to fuel your life with the inner fire that enables you to say no to common life decisions that keep you small and stifled, remain undeterred by small-minded people that disapprove of your choices, and evolve into a better version of yourself who’s more equipped to handle the uncertainties of the future. Thought Catalog Logo Mark


About the author

Lark Morrigan

Poet, sci-fi/fantasy writer, music lover, composer, & INFP.