The Past Is Our Friend
Recently I have had the opportunity to face many decisions from my life and how they have led me to where I am now. There are a good number of them that I am not so happy or proud of. There are certain experiences in my life that I go back to and replay in my mind. What was I thinking in this moment? What motivated that decision? It is a very interesting experience to sympathize with a former version of myself. It is much easier to lay judgement down, especially on myself, than it is to be gracious and patient.
At the same time, what is life if not learning from those very mistakes? Somewhere along the line I picked up the idea that how I am at a single moment in life is who I am. That a mistake is, no matter how minute, a blemish on my life resumé. Yes, I’ve made decisions and now I get to work through the consequences. I have been looking at those mistakes not as a spill that needs to be cleaned, but as a scar that everyone can see. Even if they are scars, that is not something that I am defined by. They are simply part of my story. They are the lessons to be learned.
Now, some mistakes have a larger magnitude than others. They dig a deeper hole, create a larger divide and in some cases they may not be something to come back from. There are still lessons to be learned. And, a life to be lived. No matter the case, we all still have an opportunity to make something of the situation we find ourselves in and rise to the highest level of our capability. Responsibility for our actions does not equate to shame and regret.
I look at my past and I am grateful for it. Without that person I wouldn’t be the person I am now. All of those experiences still have a multitude of lessons that can be created. I was doing the best that I could at that point in my life. Now, I get to continue to be better. Even though I might be a bit more aware of myself in this current phase of my life, I am confident that mistakes and lessons will be coming my way even more. Taking risk comes with having a vision and desires. With risks comes making decisions and those decisions are not always the right ones. Being prepared for that to be the case is the first step. Being kind to myself and honest with others is the next. Life isn’t a single player game. Having people to play the game with is crucial - that doesn’t mean that they are on board to accept every fault along the way.
We only get one opportunity at this game we call life. The people that I see on TV, in movies, in politics, and at the highest level of business don’t even feel like they are the same species as me. The fun part is that they are. They are the same make up as me - they just made different choices, had different influences, walked different paths. We are all sharing this Earth together though, all on a mission to wake up and do something. Why? That’s a great question. I guess the important part is making the most of it that we possibly can. Break some plates, screw things up, make some bad jokes. At the end I’d rather be there with a few good stories and some scraped up knees than having nothing at all.
