our predictions are never accurate, anyway
Today we live in a society that’s always concerned with the future - what could happen tomorrow, why will it happen, and if it’s bad, how do we avoid it? But is this really any more effective than the seemingly less practical approach of not caring about the future that some people practice? Often when you hear someone say “To hell with tomorrow” it’ll be at a late night party where the person is finding a reason why they should drink another shot of tequila, and then when tomorrow comes they’re left feeling rather miserable and have a terrible hangover. This is the reason that, when confronted with someone saying something along the lines of “tomorrow doesn’t exist” or “now is the only time that’s real”, people tend to say that the person who said it is irresponsible or even delusional. The truth is, however, that this mentality is not delusional at all if you consider where it comes from and the reality to which it points. The main point that I'd like to make through this post is that, while it's true that we'll need to worry about tomorrow's problems at some point, now should be the time we worry about today's problems - or else we never will.
In any given moment, regardless of if you’re thinking about another moment or not, the only time you can actually be in is “now”. When you think about the past, there’s no changing what’s happened since you’re still living in the present. Your thoughts only re-live a rather biased view of what happened and don’t change the past events. Likewise when you plan for the future, you’re essentially living a biased view of future events in your thoughts. You cannot change how the future event will unfold. Since your prediction of it will probably not be entirely accurate, choosing in advance what you’ll do in that future situation won’t be very effective either.
From the concept that living in the past or future through thinking about them both give inaccurate views of what events actually happened/will happen in both “real” scenarios, it’s easy to see that not acknowledging the mentality of “now is the only time that’s real” is itself rather delusional. I’m not saying that it’s insane to think about the past or the future in theory, of course it’s still important that you plan for the future to some degree, I’m just saying that excessively worrying about either isn’t needed in order to make decisions in the present moment. If you make a choice with the past in mind, you’re basing your current decision off a reality which isn’t “real” anymore. If you base your choices off the future, your decision is clouded by an inaccurate view of what will be real.
Try bringing this idea into your life and see for yourself whether or not it not only eases some discomforts and anxieties, but overall gives you more freedom and confidence for each and every decision you make.