Everyone, one way or another, has heard of the saying "Your past doesn't define your future." What I'm here to say is while it may not define your future, it does curve or push it in certain directions that you have no control over.
Let's take family situation, for example. Growing up in an extremely dysfunctional, broken family plays a role in your future. I personally think it plays a huge role in how you perceive other families, including the one you'll have all your own. Your family may see you change and grow more than they have, but like I'm reminded (and it sucks to be reminded this, trust me), is that you may never go back to where you came from. You might move on, but you will never forget where you came from. As much as you wish you could, forgetting where you came from is a lot harder to do than you can imagine -- unless you can imagine it.
Whatever happened in your past can and will be used against you in the future. Your dysfunctional lifestyle may have brought on bad people that continue to show up. It may have caused you serious PTSD, which is extremely hard to deal with on a day to day basis.
Your past has such a huge impact on your future, whether you want it to or not. So, no your past can't stay in the past. It is why there is such a thing called the "past," because if it wasn't significant it wouldn't have gotten its own name.
Honestly, the past isn't meant for you to forget, it's meant for you to learn from. Your past doesn't define who you are or how you became this amazing person, but it played a huge role in it. Your past causes you to work harder, causing you to shape yourself into the mature young man/woman. Without a past with a lot of mistakes, you'll have a future with more mistakes than it can handle. The adolescent years are meant for all kinds of mistakes to be made, just so you can get them over with before you head for college and adult life. You will still make mistakes in the future because that's what fallen people of God do, but having a foundation of "what not to do" is helpful for your future.
No, your past doesn't define you, but it curves and sculpts and shapes you into the person you are and will be. Your every move decides where you will go, so of course, your choices (or lack of choices) from the past will be so helpful for the future. Don't dislike the past because it happened, use it to your advantage for a better future.
