I'm sure you've all heard the lines "live in the now" and "plan for the future" before. Completely contrasting quotes that people live by. The majority of the people I've met have decided to plan for the future which is incredibly wise. A few others enjoy living in the moment, not knowing what will come next.

But which one do you listen to?

Many people always seem to think that you have to be one or the other, but why not both? I believe that you can plan for the future while living in the now.

Planning for the future is pretty much making money and doing well in life so that you may be successful later on. Whether you are in high school trying to plan for college or working in a career trying to plan for retirement, it is entirely necessary to plan. There are countless events to plant for that you may never see coming. Maybe you'll start a family, or get into an accident, maybe you'll owe money on taxes. However, if you are constantly living life concerned about what could happen, you will miss out on many opportunities that do happen.

This is why it's important to live in the now. Not everything you do affects your future. If you want to take a break one night and just live a little, then do it. It is completely healthy and makes you a lot happier. But don't get too carried away, just because you're living in the now doesn't mean that you should do something stupid. To live in the now is to be spontaneous, to be adventurous, to have fun.

Combining these two aspects of life can be challenging but entirely worth it. You just have to learn to balance what is going on in your life.

There is a quote that goes:

"Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come."

We should all live life by this quote. We all have something we need to let go of, or something that we're so concerned about. But we cannot constantly be afraid, we need to live in the now every once in awhile because you never really know what is going to happen in life.

So plan for the future, but remember to live for today as well. With so many twists and turns that occur in our lives, it's impossible to plan for every single one of them so don't even try. Take a break from your hectic schedule and do whatever you want to do. Be spontaneous and courageous, go somewhere new, see where life takes you that day. I guarantee you'll go to bed that night feeling happier and most likely having learned a little something about yourself during that day.