"After All, Tomorrow is Another Day"

In a conversation that began with how my spinal cord injury has shaped my outlook on life, my friend, Hector, agreed with me that despite the fact that bad days get mixed in with the rest, it is important to focus on the good days.  He said that he is often asked about life in the Army, and that he tells people there are good days and bad days, but that he has more good days than bad ones.  Hector told me that when he is having a bad day, he tells himself that at the end of the day he will be sleeping and that tomorrow is another day. 

I love that Hector puts closure on a bad day and uses a night’s sleep as a way to begin the next day untainted, saying that he cannot let one bad day ruin the next day.

While we have a similar perspective regarding good days and bad days, I love Hector's forward-thinking approach to how to end a bad day.  I often spend an entire night fretting rather than sleeping, or at best sleeping poorly while I contemplate the worst case scenario.  I love that Hector puts closure on a bad day and uses a night’s sleep as a way to begin the next day untainted, saying that he cannot let one bad day ruin the next day.

Our discussion brought to mind a quote by Scarlet O'Hara from Gone with the Wind, "after all, tomorrow is another day."  Whenever she was dealing with something unpleasant, whether it be the burdens of living amidst an ongoing war, or the frivolous courting troubles of a spoiled young lady, Scarlett always brushed aside her troubles to deal with tomorrow.  It was always with the optimistic outlook that tomorrow is another day, undeniably implying that there is something fresh and untainted in tomorrow.   

Making the most of a new day by enjoying some dappled shade.

When people have troubles, they can either wallow in them, or let their troubles go at the end of each day to begin fresh in the morning with a new day.  Since my conversation with Hector, I have striven to think more like him, letting the burdens of a bad day go as I lay down to sleep, so that I may rest well and live tomorrow unencumbered.