Speaking of the future, new research shows that—contrary to what your gurus have been telling you—pessimism about the future is actually a healthy survival mechanism and helps people live longer (up to a point, I suspect). If literature does anything, I would hope that it’s to add to one’s one’s stock of realistic reality, about the present and future (be less deceived, etc etc etc). Some money:
A pessimistic future forecast is often the more realistic one, [study author Frieder R. Lang] said. Older people, after all, see a narrowing future with physical and mental breakdown as well as death on the horizon. As such, thinking things will probably be bad could motivate people to take advantage of more social services, for example, or make investments that will ease the aging process, he said.
Or write more. As I tell my students: you will be dead soon. Get to work.