Our past can serve two purposes. It can hold us down, forever looking back at the what-if's and the could-have-been's, never moving forward because of the fear of screwing up again. Worse yet, if you have lost someone or something very important, that loss can also hold you back for fear of more loss. The broken heart, the loss of desire to ever be happy again due to that pain. Thinking that you don't deserve to have it because of the past. However the past can also serve as a lesson on what not to do, how to come out better than before, how not to experience the pain again or how to live through it should it happen.
Take walking as an example. We all learn to walk by getting up first on our knees, then up on our feet, then we take a step. Soon we learn to walk faster, then to run. We master things like stairs and walking over thing, then up hills and down. But one day, we take a fall. We step in a hole. We get hurt, maybe even breaking a limb. Do we stop walking because it hurt? Do we decide to never try and walk again for fear we could fall and hurt ourselves again? Typically no. We may be down for a short time healing but we eventually stand and walk again, then learn to move around again, maybe moving a little more cautious at first but we still move again.
I am a big fan of quotes. One quote I try to remember when I feel I have gotten 'stuck' in life is the definition of insanity. "Insanity: The act of doing something over and over again, expecting a different result." How many times have you done this only to realize you have gotten nowhere. Take dieting for an example. Many times we try a new fad diet, you know the ones that will tell you you can lose a bunch of weight without exercising. You succeed in losing the weight temporarily but then go back to the same old habits of eating whatever you want and never exercise, basically setting yourself up for failure. Then once you have gained the weight back you wonder, how did that happen. You did what you always do. Instead of finding the real reason you are over weight was because you never get off your couch and do things like walk or exercise and you eat whatever you want, stuffing yourself until you are miserable because it tastes good, you blame the diet for failing you. The next time a new fad diet comes out you try it and the same thing happens.I have been this person much of my life. Not just with diets, but with bettering myself, moving forward from my past, even just with trying to branch out and try new things. It has only taken me 49 years to realize that I was stuck in a rut much of my life. I could lay blame on my past, my parents, the abuses I endured as a child, the losses of loved ones, the hardships that life dealt me, but what would that accomplish. Honestly not a damn thing other than making me feel sorry for myself. I have never and never will use those experiences of my past as a crutch or reason for me not succeeding. They are, in fact, the reason I have succeeded so far and the reason I will continue to succeed.
I have been asked over the years if I could go back and change one thing, what would it be? The honest answer is...NOTHING! I am who I am because of what I experienced in my past. I am the wonderful, honest, loving, caring, strong, independent, tough, sweet, blunt, rock of a person I am today as a direct result of the things that made me this way through the previous 48 years. I would not want anything to change.
Instead I choose to live by the 3 choices. Give up, Give in, OR GIVE IT ALL YOU'VE GOT! Life is too short not go for it, to grab it by the reins and ride off into the sunset having a great time knowing you did all you wanted, you accomplished as much as you could, and you had fun doing it. The time to choose is now, and you have the power to choose whatever you want to have, be, and do. Time to go out and play and have fun and try new things and maybe fall down and get back up. Ready?
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