Our past is a fantastic mirror to look at. It gives us ways to reflect, lessons to understand, and paints a picture of who we used to be. But the past is meant for simply that - looking at it, not dwelling in it.
There's a joke that goes around sometimes about guys who sit in bars and only talk about their days as high school football stars. The sad part about that is not that you can't talk about your high school stories - it's that some people might have a life where their past was the best part of their life. I don't want that for anyone. While it's a lifelong journey, I hope that everyone can come to a moment where they accept their current life not just for what's in front of them, but as a source of meaning. If we enjoy and find value in our present, then we have less and less of a reason to look back at our past.
There’s a quote from the British author Alain de Botton that says, "anyone who isn't embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn't learning enough.” Embarrassed is a strong word to describe yourself, and while it might sound a bit self-defeating, the principle behind it is so true. If we somehow think our past was better than our future, then we might be missing the best parts of our life now. Life is short, and it’s not worth living in what we did yesterday, especially because we never know how many days we have left. Instead, let’s be people who take pride in our current moment. Don’t live in the past - there's too much that requires you to be present now.