There and Back Again

You know, there's this saying about how you can't go home again. In hindsight, that's probably a good thing. I think I tend to look back at the past with some fairly rose-colored glasses, even though things were probably not so great in a lot of ways. Maybe it's just one of those grown-up things where it might be nice to lay down that burden of responsibility and go back to a few stolen moments where the weight of the world was on someone else's shoulders.

I suspect I'm not the only one - after all, how often have we heard the "In my day, X was better because of Y!" That's really all about perception, though.

As far as this week's topic goes - we seem to be wavering on regrets and things that got away or are getting away from us.

Seems to me it's all fairly intertwined, but I haven't really seen anyone terribly unhappy with the way things have turned out. I mean, you can sit there and think about the past and play the "what if" game all day - and while it's fun in small doses, to focus on the past too much means you're not really living for the future. You can't change what happened - but you can change what will happen (at least as far as your own personal reactions and intentions are.)

As far as things that got away from me or regrets about them - sure. There are friendships that have slipped away...or in some cases, burned in a fiery pit. Relationships that didn't go where I wanted (and looking back on them? It's a very good thing they didn't. Knowing who I am now and who I was then - I can honestly say my life would not be anything like it is today, and not for the better.) Things that I wished I'd done or said differently. Things I wish I hadn't been so afraid to do. Things I wished I'd worried less about. (And I used to be terrible worrier - so much time wasted on worrying - I regret giving up parts of my life to that.)

But good or bad, these things shaped me into what I am today, so it's hard to be too regretful about that.

And really, it's all about taking these things and learning from them and always moving forward.