Never Letting Go Of The Past

Have you ever considered what your life might have become, if only you had made different choices? Daydreamed about the million or so alternate realities that might exist somewhere else, where even the smallest decision may have produced a completely different life for you.

I can't helped but think about how crossing outside the lines, can effect the outcome so drastically. How sometimes you find yourself standing on your chosen path, at a point where it intersects with a road you could have potentially taken, but opted out of. Life seems so full of these instances that grant you new perspective into your past for just a glimmering moment, long enough to allow the dreams to form, to envision what might have been.

Some may say that such a person simply dwells on the past, avoiding the present, to exist in a state of comfort over what one might perceive to be the only situation they have control over. However, if life is simply a collection of our experiences, I say use what you have learned to better help you take on the thousands of choices you make each day. Consider how much a single day's decisions can so drastically alter your entire existence. Without the wisdom you possess from going out and taking on the world, how can you expect to choose your path through the web of choices you make each day.

Life is unkind, and each day brings about new challenges that we must face regardless. We sometimes tend to make rash choices through the course of a day, in hopes that their outcomes are irrelevant tomorrow. We procrastinate when it is time to make those "difficult" decisions that may or may not matter minutes later, in hopes that the "correct" answer will simply present itself to us.

Sometimes I hear people talk about how badly they try to block out their past, or actively attempt to forget the poor choices they've made and their subsequent outcomes. However, at the same time, do they not still use those vital memories to better help them avoid new failure in their present, tapping those experiences and using that acquired knowledge to prevent themselves from repeating the same mistakes again. Don't neglect your past simply because it might hurt to think about it, use it as a tool to make new choices and transcend beyond whatever it may be that you regret. Although no one can change their past, they can at least use its lessons to make for themselves a better future.

Who knows, by embracing those memories that cause you the most pain when they're recalled, perhaps you will find new meaning behind why your world turned out the way it has. Sometimes, you may even find that those situations that seemed to have caused you so much suffering, with a new perspective, now bring a smile to your face, and the confidence you'll need to take on tomorrow.