Getting Ahead (Of Ourselves)

Why is it so hard sometimes to get ahead in life, yet so easy to get ahead of ourselves?

I’ve been thinking about this recently. I’m sure it’s because I have a birthday approaching as well as because of the novel I’m currently writing.
I keep needing to remind myself how fortunate I am when it comes to this writing thing. I still remember when I was an unpublished writer wondering if that day would ever come.
On my bad days, I can just hear God whispering to me above the noise in my head, saying something like this:
What more do you want?

The other voices seem so meaningless when I hear what they really want.
More fans on Facebook! More reviews on Amazon! More sales so I can get more royalties so I can get bigger advances so I can go get that new iPad!

That’s the part about getting ahead of myself, the part I have to be careful about.
Every day, I do something I love, and I do it with every bit of passion I can muster. My brain usually feels like warm oatmeal at the end of each day, but that’s okay.
As a writer, I believe you have to set goals and you need to have ambitions. But I have to remind myself to not worry, to not compare, and to not feel like the end is near.
Every day is a new beginning and a new chance. Not just for writing but for living.
So many days I need to remind myself to not look ahead but to focus on the here and the now. So I try.
Sometimes it works.