"I’m a-gonna tell you somepin about bein’ in the pen. You can’t go thinkin’ when you’re gonna be out. You’d go nuts. You got to think about that day, an’ then the nex’ day, about the ball game Sat’dy. That’s what you got to do. Ol’ timers does that. A new young fella gets buttin’ his head on the cell door. He’s thinkin’ how long it’s gonna be. Whyn’t you do that? Jus’ take ever’day."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 10. Tom Joad says this to Ma Joad, who is worrying about how far it is to California and how long it will take them to get there. Tom has learned some valuable life lessons in prison about how to cope. He has learned not to think too far ahead and just concentrate on getting through that day and then the next.