#MicroblogMondays 156: Looking Ahead
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If you are not doing anything for today’s eclipse, don’t despair. You get another chance on April 8, 2024. That’s only seven years away.
It’s traveling through places that I would go to even if there wasn’t an eclipse, such as Montreal or Newfoundland. But it’s also going to be much closer to home, passing through sections of Pennsylvania and New York.
It helps me to feel okay with missing out on something knowing that it will happen again in the future and I’ll get a second chance to do it right. I know that’s pretty optimistic believing the world will still be here seven years from now. But crossing fingers, right?
Do second chances help you to feel okay about missing out on something the first time?
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23 comments
Sometimes yes. But often I end up disappointed and sad. Didn’t know there is an Eclipse!
Somewhat. The first chance feels more “powerful” somehow with the second chance feeling less so. It feels like you have one chance to ‘get it right”.
Short answer No.
I always feel if I didn’t get to see/do it first time round that’s the way it was destined to be.
I forgot about the eclipse!! The first chance does feel more powerful somehow, I agree with Diane. Although, maybe I appreciate the second chance more if I get it!
Some things I’m okay missing even without the promise of a second chance. But yes, generally knowing or believing an opportunity will present itself down the road helps.
Well the 2024 one is way farther from us than this one. But the 2045 one is a lot closer. optimism!
Actually second chances do help because I know that I can always go back, but the pressure is also higher to make it the second time.
Yes. Always love a solid back up plan.
Oh sure. But I try to take advantage of everything the first time if possible because one never knows, right? I call it the “jelly apple lesson.” (candy apples) I was with a boyfriend years ago at a farm and passed a whole table full of candy apples. I ignored a gut feeling to get one and an hour later when we passed it again, we were told that someone had come along and bought them all. The rest of that autumn, I couldn’t find another decent-looking jelly apple.
Agree with Lori, above. You never know what will be going on in 2024, so you might as well try to make the best of 2017, right? But then again, always nice to have something to look forward to…!
It is nice to have a back up plan, of sorts, but I also think it’s important to make the most of the opportunity in front of you because you never know what’s going to happen in the future.
That said, I am excited about another solar eclipse viewing in a few years.
I try not to feel bad for what I missed, but sometimes, guilt pop in. If onlys are my worst enemy. I am not planning to anything for the eclipse, though. Too much on my plate already. 🙂
I had one peek through a friend’s eclipse viewer. The sun was a bit covered. I thought it would get darkish here or something but I didn’t notice the slightest difference. I don’t know if I’ll feel at all different in 2024! Maybe I’ll be an astronomy buff by then. Or maybe my children, age 10(!) and 7 (rap wood) will be excited about it? It’s kind of fun to think how things might change in that span of time.
It made me feel better that I didn’t travel to see the totality. But it was cool seeing what I saw.
I was looking at a map of the path of the 2024 eclipse, and (assuming I am still in the same location — and I have no reason to doubt I won’t be…) we will be right at or very close to 100% coverage for that one. So yeah, that does make me feel a bit more excited. 😉 I feel pretty lucky having seen one total eclipse (in 1979), so it’s kind of cool to think I might get to two, both times without leaving my front yard, lol.
Definitely knowing there will be another opportunity helps with the FOMO. 🙂
I guess if I desperately wanted to do something, then knowing there was another opportunity makes me feel better. I figure that by the time my second chance comes around, I also have had time to decide properly how much I want to do something, or if I can live with not doing it ever.
For example, I feel good knowing that there are lots of places in Scotland I can go to to see puffins, having missed out on seeing them in Iceland and Norway this year. But I guess that if I never get a chance to see them, there are other things I’d rather do.
PS. I love learning things from your blogs and the commenters. Until a few minutes ago, I’d never heard of a jelly apple. Now I know what it is. (Thanks, DuckDuckGo.)
Oh wow, I totally was saying “If we’re all still here in 7 years” like 5 minutes ago! I’m going to believe we will be, and you can come to New York and do a tour of Rochester and I can meet you in person. 🙂 I enjoy second chances, but sometimes they don’t offer themselves up — I can’t tell you how many times I waited to buy something and then found that it was gone forever and I’d waited too long. So I think seize the first opportunity, but if a second chance comes around, do that, for sure! I enjoyed this eclipse go-round even at 71%, and am excited to be in the totality path for 2024. It will be my second chance to use the cool glasses instead of my jacked (yet effective) cereal box viewer.
Mali, I never heard the term “jelly apple” before either. Although I have certainly had “candy apples” before. 😉 You learn something new every day…!
We had 97% coverage and total coverage was only two hours away in Nashville. We figure, God willing, we’ll see a total eclipse one day. It’s something to look forward to…
Yes, it does. I can get major FOMO, but knowing there will be another chance helps a lot!
It does take some of the pressure off if you know you have a second chance.