Since I decided not to have cable TV in my tiny house, I have been using Hulu for my nightly relaxation/entertainment.  And since Hulu has all of the “old” shows on it… I recently found myself watching Felicity over again from the very beginning through to the season finale.  I used to LOVE that show and I was so excited to find it and be able to watch it again.  But rather like the first time around, I found myself stressing out for the characters… will she stay pre-med or go after her dreams of being an artist?  And more importantly, will she choose Ben or Noel??

But one thing was different this time around.  Since it wasn’t live TV anymore, I could cheat.  I could either skip ahead an episode or two, or I could look up the episode guide online and see what was going to happen in advance.  I did the latter.

The “Felicity Episode Guide” became my best friend… letting me know ahead of time what was going to happen so I didn’t have to worry when it appeared that Felicity was making a bad decision or that someone’s life was seemingly in peril.  I knew that it all was going to work out okay in the end… the episode guide told me so!

It got me to thinking.

Wouldn’t it be great if we had an “episode guide” for our lives?  Where we could skip ahead and read about what was going to happen ahead of time so we didn’t have to worry in the present?  We could see the results of our decisions before we made them, find out which way we should go and even what was going to happen to our loved ones.

If only it was that easy, right?

But even though it would be nice once in awhile to look ahead and see what was coming… in the end, I don’t really want an episode guide.  Half of the fun in life is being surprised and not knowing what’s around the corner!  Then when good things happen to us, we are genuinely exhilarated because we didn’t expect it!

Plus, having too much information up front can actually lead to unhappiness.

Think about it.  If you knew that you weren’t going to meet your spouse for another 5 years… you’d go crazy waiting!  You’d already know that everyone one you met between now and then weren’t the one, so you wouldn’t enjoy spending time with them and that’s only if you gave them the time of day in the first place!  Or if you knew you were going to be fired from a job in the future, you’d have zero motivation to do a good job in the here and now.

Of course, some might say, but at least you could know if you were going to get sick or die at a certain age… to which I say, why should that matter?  Honestly, if you would live your life differently knowing you were going to become ill or pass away soon… perhaps more honestly, bravely or boldly… then why wait?  Shouldn’t you already be living your life that way anyway?

Sure, it’s a nice daydream to have once in awhile – a glimpse into your own future.  But the reality of life is we don’t know what’s coming, good or bad.  And that’s what makes it so exciting.

So expect the best.  Live in the present.  Don’t feel guilty about the past or worry about the future.

Life is about NOW.

So go out and live it.