A couple of days back, I was having a conversation with a friend and he pointed out a couple of people within the state who had some really rough past, but they managed to pull through it and made their future worthwhile. This was when I concluded that someone's past is not their future. Most times, it is not how you started the race that ultimately determines how you will end the race. It is sad that a lot of people are trapped in their past and this has limited them from accessing their future. The truth is that you cannot feature both in the past and the future at the same time. You need to let go of the past in order to be able to move on from it and create a better future.
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One of the things that I have figured out in life is that you may not have had a choice to determine your past and how it started, but you should know that your future is in your hands. In the same way, you cannot undo the past. For example, you cannot change your background, your genealogy, but you can actually determine your future. The actions you undertake in the present are what will set the order for your future to be built. You have to understand that no matter how your past was, change is always possible. I have read stories about a lot of people who came from very different and rough background, and they refused to let it define them, and they finally achieved greatness.
Your choices, actions, habits, attitude, and decisions of today are what will determine your future, not how your past was. Over the course of the week, I was privileged to go to watch an inter-house sport in one of the schools I was invited to. What drew my attention was the 200 meter race. When the race began, a particular boy had a very terrible start and almost tripped over. Somehow, he manage to balance himself, picked up his speed and finished first; all these happened in seconds. The whole attendees were surprised at that. It is true that he did not have a fair start, but he did not allow it to prevent him to finishing well.
You have to understand that in life, it is not yet over until when you have concluded that it is. Things may not have worked according to how you had planned for it in the past, but it does not mean that tomorrow will not be better. The difference between the people who have moved on from their past and those who are stuck at their past is the willingness and determination to grow and welcome changes. No matter how you sulk over the past, it will not undo anything, rather it will sap you of the energy that you need today. When you understand that your past does not have an absolute influence on your future, then you will know how to move on from it.
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Even though you are not to dwell in the past, but it is worthy to note that the past can actually teach valuable and relatable life lessons. You are to learn from the past, not to live or dwell in it. What the past serves for is to teach lessons and make you better. Whatever happened in the past should serve as a stepping-stone for you to create a good tomorrow. Even if you had made mistakes or errors in the past, they should not serve as barriers or obstacles, but as something to teach lessons and act as stepping-stone. Every past mistake should teach wisdom, and every setback should teach resilience.
You have to take actions for a better future. Understand that having a good future is not a gift, nor something that comes as mere wishes, but a product of your actions of today. Changing your future for the better will require actions, not just dreaming about having a good future. In order to do this, you have to set goals, create dreams, and then put in actions. You also need to surround yourself with the people that are also going to the same direction and will provide positive influence for you. You have to know that the people that you stay often with can determine if your dream future will be realized or if you will be stuck inside the past.
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