Seize Today: Stop Waiting for Tomorrow to Live Your Life

This morning, I got a Facebook notification, it was one of my 2012 posts that read, “Is it true that tomorrow is coming already? I have waited for ages for tomorrow.” These words, whose origin I can’t recall, struck a deep chord within me. For years, I postponed truly living, always hoping that tomorrow would bring what today lacked. I waited and waited for that glorious tomorrow, and when it never came, despair set in. I buried myself in work, spending endless hours in my shop from 8 am to midnight, merely trying to survive. It hurts me now thinking about it, but I have no time to give to regrets.

I kept waiting for tomorrow to don that beautiful red dress in my wardrobe. I planned to wear it overseas, in a life perfectly aligned with my dreams. But the years slipped by, and the dress gathered dust. When I finally moved to Malaysia, the dress no longer fit. My body had changed, and with it, the opportunity to wear that dress had vanished.

I waited for tomorrow to feel happiness, to smile, to laugh wholeheartedly, believing that leaving my country would bring me joy. I wasted precious time in anger and resentment, cursing our president for his 24-year reign of corruption. Yet, in reality, I was only harming myself. He lived contentedly, while I let my own happiness slip away.

I waited for tomorrow to wear the beautiful shoes my sister brought me all the way from Paris, imagining I’d wear them in a picturesque country with perfect roads. Years later, the shoes were ruined by humidity, and I never had the chance to wear them.

Reflecting on it now, I’m appalled at the immense cost I paid waiting for tomorrow—my time and energy, irretrievably lost. This realization fuels more my commitment to truly experiencing life. I will try everything possible at least once, honoring the life I’ve been given.

Do not be someone who waits for the perfect day, the perfect opportunity, the perfect conditions, or the perfect partner to start living. Life is happening now, and it is not life’s responsibility to remind you that time is fleeting. Live now. Learn to bloom where you are planted, not where you wish to be planted. Waiting for tomorrow is a waste of today. Go out and live your life now.

With all my heart,

Salima