That’s a loaded couple of words.

For this blog, “your past” will be implying all that one has done before the moment they now find themselves. A person’s particular past history, which if it’s anything like mine, is packed with things like mistakes, insincerity, immaturity, growth, happiness, sadness but most of all, CHANGE.

In a few weeks, I’ll be thirty-three years old, and while that may be young to some and old to others, I don’t look at it like that but rather as a reference to how long I’ve been on this earth. In other words, how long I’ve had the opportunity to get my life the way I want it without hurting others or myself. Hasn’t been easy and there’s a lot more work to do but it’s slowly starting to come together for me. And this got me thinking…

Once we reach a happier and clearer place, using the wisdom and experience of our past to teach us and enable us to learn about ourselves to a much higher degree, therefore making our choices and actions be more effective for a happier life, what do we do about our past history that we wish wasn’t the case? It doesn’t just go away. It’s right there in our memory and can plop up anytime. Like when you run into someone you once knew and a memory flashes before your eyes, instantly making you recall how truly moronic you once were, or maybe you hear a song that triggers a recollection that makes you cringe to think about. What then? Do we just grin and bear it? Pretend that wasn’t us? Block it from our memory? What?

Well, clearly, if one changes their behavior, then through consistency and reality, it will be evident. But the painful part of the truth of the past is still there.

So, I’ve come up with this. Deal with it. Own it. Learn from it. And then move on. If others can’t, that’s their problem. Those who truly care about you will likely care about you even more because of your courage and strength to actually change.

Writer Pearl S. Buck once said, “One faces the future with one’s past.”

So, I’ve decided, rather than cringe, I’ll just be glad I’ve learned better…