{"id":248,"date":"2026-07-29T22:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/?p=248"},"modified":"2026-08-20T22:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T22:09:10","slug":"dont-wait-for-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/dont-wait-for-later\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Wait for Later"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We use the word <em>later<\/em> so casually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ll take that trip later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll call them later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019ll slow down later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll do the thing I\u2019ve always wanted to do when life settles down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Then something happens that reminds you that later was never guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cancer did that for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am not suggesting that we abandon responsibility or live recklessly. I am suggesting that sometimes we postpone the things that matter most because we assume there will always be another opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But why make that bet unnecessarily?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tell people you love them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Take the picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Make the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plan the trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sit on the porch a little longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sometimes the most meaningful decision you can make is to stop saving your life for later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We use the word later so casually. We\u2019ll take that trip later. I\u2019ll call them later. We\u2019ll slow down later. I\u2019ll do the thing I\u2019ve always wanted to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26,22,24,28],"class_list":["post-248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roadside-reflections","tag-ask-one-more-question","tag-caregiver-support","tag-our-story","tag-paying-hope-forward"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":250,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248\/revisions\/250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonesingforthejourney.com\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}