“There comes a day when you realize turning the page is the best feeling in the world, because you realize there is so much more to the book than the page you were stuck on.” -Taryn Malik
We’ve all heard about the importance of “getting over it” and of “moving on.” But I prefer the phrase “turning the page.” Imagine this: you’re on the beach, leaned back in your favorite striped beach chair, toes wedged in the sand, sun beaming on your face. Your water-soaked fingers dampen the pages of your paperback copy of the ever-popular "Me Before You." You lay back as you finish page 26. Then, you turn the page. You’re making forward progress in the story and its getting better with ever turn. But you can’t just forget or ignore the content you’ve already read. That’s just not how stories work. And that’s not how your life should work either.
Turning the page is all about anticipating the future, while building off of the past. Our mistakes make us who we are, and it’s important to embrace the things that we aren’t proud of. Ignoring our faults and pretending our mistakes didn’t happen will only prolong this “getting over it” process. To really move forward and love yourself again, you need to acknowledge everything about yourself, especially the things you don’t like. We need to stop being "stuck" and dwelling on the things that, no matter how hard we try, we can't change.
We encourage each other to move on and get over it, but we should really be encouraging each other to reflect on what we’ve been through and use that to build ourselves back up. Maybe you took someone for granted, were a terrible friend, or made a really bad decision, but it'll only stick with you if you don't face it. It's time for us to admit our mistakes, whether it's to a friend or just to ourselves. Don’t be ashamed of your past. If you haven’t already, you will eventually realize that it has shaped who you are and will continue to shape who you’ll be in the future. Accepting this will only motivate you to love and believe in yourself. You’ll understand what you want and more importantly, you'll understand what you deserve. So yeah, get over it. But don’t ignore it. Accept it, and let it build you up, rather than just build up inside you. Turn the page.
