I’ve been helping my parents pack up the house that has been their home for 48 years. It holds a half a century of memories.
Here is a photo of my mom and dad taken only a couple of years before they moved into this house.
A flurry of thoughts flittered through my head as I packed the picture away; the photo is worn and stained after 50 years in the frame, my mom and dad are a little more worn too, wow – look how young they look, I wonder if they ever long for what used to be?
That’s when the thought took a two-by-four and whacked me across my skull;
I LONG FOR WHAT USED TO BE! I PINE AWAY FOR IT!
In an instant I realized how much time I spend trying to recapture the life I used to live. I want to be as skinny and fit as I was before having Lily. I want to be as financially sound as I was 10 years ago. I want to be as productive as I was before I got older and a little slower.
I measure my success and self-worth against the same yard stick I measured myself against 15 years ago. I realized how much energy I spend trying to recapture what once was. I spent entirely too much time looking back.
I wonder how many of us are subconsciously stuck in “what used to be”, rather than enjoying what is here and now?
Personally, I’ve grown very weary of being stuck in my past. Here is to the new beginning today…
