The Truth About “Someday” and Why It’s Costing You

Someday isn’t on the calendar. 

We all have a list.

The trip we’ll take someday. The closet we’ll declutter someday. The book we’ll read, the project we’ll start, the conversation we’ll have—someday.

Someday is comforting. It lets us believe we’re not avoiding something, just postponing it. It tells us the timing will be better later. That we’ll have more energy, more clarity, more courage.

But here’s the truth about someday: it’s not on the calendar. It’s not a real day. And it’s costing us more than we think.

Someday costs us space. That box in the garage you’ll sort through someday? It’s taking up more than square footage. It’s taking up mental bandwidth. It’s a silent to-do, whispering every time you see it.

Someday costs us opportunities. The class you want to take. The idea you want to try. The person you keep meaning to reconnect with. Waiting for someday means waiting for a moment that may never come—and sometimes, the chance won’t wait for you.

Someday costs us presence. When our minds are crowded with things we’ll get to “eventually,” we miss what’s here now. We live half in today and half in a future we never fully commit to.

The truth is, someday is safe because it asks nothing from us now. No discomfort. No risk. No change. But it also offers nothing now—no relief, no progress, no joy of follow-through.

There’s a reason you’ve been carrying that task, that conversation, that decision. Not because you don’t have time. But because it’s easier to imagine doing it later than to face it now.

But what if you traded someday for today? What if you took the first awkward step? Made the call. Opened the box. Said the thing. Blocked the time. Not to finish it all—just to begin.

Because the moment you begin, someday turns into something else entirely: momentum.

And momentum has a way of giving back what someday only ever promises—space, opportunity, and presence.

You don’t have to do it all right now. But you do have to decide. If it matters, start. If it doesn’t, let it go.

Clear your calendar of someday. And watch how much lighter today becomes.