Zeg: The Day After Tomorrow - Georgian
A friendly shape of future within reach, neither as far as the horizon nor as close as any minute
This week's theme is time; how it influences our psyche and the way we perceive the world.
Time, like the pieces of a Matryoshka doll, has dimensions that range from tiny to centuries. Some of them are within our somehow influence—minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months. However, as the end point of the period grows distant, time moves out of our control and goes further into the unknown, a dimension that we cannot manage.
While we can confidently plan for only hours ahead, centuries become an unsettling realm in our minds where even our lives will end.
The most abstract of all these periods of time is the future itself.
The past has been left behind, and the future is the empty path we shall move ahead. The problem is that the path of future is partially visible, while most of it is hidden behind the hills or lies in shadows; and this blurriness brings a chaotic dance of emotions.
When we think about the future, logic takes a back seat while emotions get the stage. We do not know what the future holds. So where we lack knowledge, we try to predict what might happen based solely on our imagination; we try to soothe the pessimism of uncertainty with the reality of our fantasies. Here's where the two of our emotions have the main role.
Hope and fear.
You may fear what will happen in the future or hope for the best. This is a distinctive moment at which we must make a conscious choice. Human’s main weapon on this planet is our ability to make choices. We can’t usually influence what will happen to us, but we can influence our decisions. So, in this moment, where we imagine our future, a wise decision might change the game. So we need to replace fear with hope, and the negative with the positive.
Hope is easier to reach when the future is available and predictable. A future that is neither too distant nor too close. Optimal span we can manage. A friendly period of time.
As you can see, some species of time are gentler and friendlier to humans. One of them is Zeg in Georgian, which means "the day after tomorrow".
Why don't all languages have such words bring time closer to us?
We need them. I'm not talking about a week or a month; I'm talking about the day after tomorrow or three days from now, which are both close and distant at the same time.
Time has a greater power on us than we think; it is the driving force behind our daily existence, similar to the heartbeat. Our perception of time affords us, as mortals, the ability to regulate our lives. The way we perceive time, the value we place on it, and how frequently we chose hope over fear and pessimism offer us the ability to control life.
I've recently noticed that things go better when I concentrate on the short term. The longer I try to plan, the weaker my willpower grows. For example, I have objectives and hopes for my newsletter, but I don't want to imagine the future five years ahead. I do what I need to accomplish today in anticipation of an outcome that I hope will occur in a few days' hence. This way, what I need to do is no longer abstract; it is practical. I can do something concrete today to achieve the objective that is within my grasp and that fulfills me. Short, little steps.
Before I end this article, I should mention that the word zeg is also the name of a festival in Georgia. The Zeg Storytelling Festival takes place between June 21-23 in Georgia. Like the meaning of Zeg, it is a festival full of hope.
I wish you a wonderful week where hope triumphs over fear and time is your friend.
— Gulsun