Past vs Present

“The past is our definition. We may strive, with good reason, to escape it, or to escape what is bad in it, but we will escape it only by adding something better to it.”
~Wendell Berry

When I look back on my past, it seems so distant to me. When I think on my past, I realize that who I am today is because of my past. I can’t completely escape it because it defines who I’ve been and who I’ve become.

So many of us try to escape what is behind us. It’s a hard choice to embrace what we’ve tried to leave behind. I find this difficult for myself. To completely escape my past would be to deny a large part of myself.

“What you need to know about the past is that no matter what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.”
~Author Unknown

For some, embracing the past is easy because it’s an easy past to embrace.

Not much has seemed to change or the changes they’ve gone through have been easy ones. For some of us, this is harder. Our past may not have been something we felt we had much control over. It can take a lot of forgiveness for some of us to embrace things that have hurt us or caused change in us that we didn’t want. For some, there are things that we want to choose not to remember.

As the quote above tells us, though, the things that have happened in our past, no matter if we look at them as good or bad, those things have made us into the person we are now. And right now is the time to make choices in our present that will affect the past, as the past is as close as yesterday.

Look back on your past. What things in the past have made you who you are today? What things have been easy to embrace? What things have been hard to embrace? If there is something you’re struggling to embrace, WHY do you find it hard to embrace? How are you different from who you were in the past? How are you the same?

Make a list of some of the things in your past that stand out to you. Are they the same as things are now or are they different?

Create a page that shows how your past differs or has stayed the same compared to who you are today. Don’t be afraid to be honest. Don’t be afraid to be candid.