"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new."Humans are essentially packrats. We seem to be most comfortable when we're surrounded by stuff - people, things, figurative structures - that are familiar to us.
Socrates
Sometimes all that legacy comes with a cost. Like when it pulls you back, keeps you from seeing things from new perspectives, limits your willingness to take the unknown path.
I've spent too much of my time on this planet hanging around folks who seem intent on looking back. So I hope you won't mind if I yank the rearview mirror down and surround myself, instead, with folks who aren't so afraid to leave it all behind and trade it all for something truly impactful.
Please forgive me if I'd rather spend my future days striving for something better instead of settling for what once was.
Thoughts?
The late, great Marcia Wallace wrote her autobiography in 2004. She had a tough life, with mental illness, breast cancer and widowhood. She titled the book after what her father always used to say: "Don't look back, we're not going that way!"
ReplyDeleteI love that title, and I adhere to the principle. We can't change the past, so why dwell in it? Nostalgia can be wonderful but not as a way of life.
So, nothing to forgive here - it is so much more productive to look forward while we enjoy the scenery than to wish for that which cannot be recouped or changed.
I agree with you, but find myself to be one of those people! Thanks Carmi, for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteYour words have hit home tonight, Carmi. I'm coming to a crossroads in my life and I have a decision to make. I've been avoiding the decision by dwelling in the pain and hurt from the past. Although I have no idea what lies ahead, I'm holding on to the past because I'm scared and the past is familiar. You're right. It's time to start looking forward and stop living in the past. Thanks for reminder.
ReplyDeleteProgressives and regressives...thus makes up the world.
ReplyDeleteYep, it takes courage to move on.. to realize we can't change what was or may have been.. I'm w/you.. it ain't healthy to dwell in the past.. My mother did it countless times and she was miserable.. In fact whenever she did go to that place I found myself distancing myself.. It gets to be obnoxious hearing the repetitive...
ReplyDeleteI've devoted myself to cleaning up the gardening supply mess outside the basement sliding door!
ReplyDelete(Primary motivation: So I can take pictures of the Carolina Wrens that stop by each morning without all the clutter in the shot.)
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I couldn't agree more! Now is this a challenge to post our own photo of, Building anew?
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, you struck home with this post for me, and as I said, something inside of me had to share your thoughts with the world! Or rather the world in which we bloggers call.... home when we can.
ReplyDeletehttp://twincitiesblather.blogspot.com/2013/11/thematic-photographics-cousin-building.html