Everyday Canvas

Looking Ahead? It Depends.

Prompt: "Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead. That is where your future is." Ann Landers What are your thoughts about this?

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Good advice, I think, especially for young people with quite a number of years ahead of them, theoretically speaking.

Yet, what do you do about memories, good and bad or in-between, that start popping up in the mind? Fact is, I kind of like them. I am not afraid of any of them, and if anything, they make good writing material. The only problem with looking back or remembering has to do with regretting things, behavior, or decisions and letting the past to hold a person back.

Thus, sometime in my twenties, I decided to regret nothing as even the worst moments have taught me a thing or two. There’s nothing one can do about them, anyhow; therefore, the only thing that can affect anything in life is the present and the future.

In my case, I’ve also let go of the future because the future may portend things that I could worry about, too, if not for myself, then for loved ones around me. So, I think it is best to live in the present moment because the next hour, let alone the next day or month or year, isn’t guaranteed to be a happy one or to exist at all.