It is okay to relive a memory. It is okay to grieve over a memory. It is okay to laugh at what happened in the past. What is not okay is to stay stuck in your past.
If you have a good past or bad past, you should always look forward to what lies ahead. If you are enclosed in nightmares from what happened years ago, or if you are just so down because the good times are behind you, remind yourself that there’s something different around the corner. Remind yourself that you are here for a reason and it is not for the mere purpose of reliving what you went through before.
You learn from the past. You learn where to go from here. You learn where not to go from here. You learn that the future matters. You learn that the past matters, good or bad — it shapes you into who you are, which is an individual, a human being. Someone living, thriving, striving. You are you because of who made you the person that you are, but this does not mean that you have to dwell on all of what these people did to you.
Those memories are memories that will never be erased, but that doesn't mean you cannot be grateful for them. They also made you the person you are today: An individual, a human being. Someone living, thriving, striving.
Dwelling is unhealthy. To remember those days of pain can hurt even more than it did in the moment. To remember those days of cheer can make you smile, but make you believe that there's no hope for those days to come. I am here to tell you that the past matters but your future matters more. Because what the past did to you makes your future what it will be.
You are an individual. You are a human being. You are someone living, thriving, striving.
