Living for Today Instead of the Past

Starting from about their mid-twenties on, people tend to do a lot of reminiscing about the good ol’ days. You remember the times when you had less responsibilities, worries or troubles than what you have at the moment; you often wish you could go back in time. You also start pinpointing the things you wish you had not done, the things you would have done or the small details you would have changed about yourself or your experiences. Are you living too much in the past? Perhaps the stories that took place back in the day were not quite as great as you remember and maybe you are not giving yourself and today enough credit.

There is no denying that today you likely have much more to concern yourself with than say maybe five or ten years ago. In that regard, you may view those times as some of the best of your life, in great part due to how you know your outlook on certain things would be now that you can appreciate them more. Appreciating those past moments would not have been the same back then when you had yet to have gone through everything that helped you reach today.

Time flies, many people may agree with that. There is so much you want to do but next thing you know, weeks, months and years have passed and you have yet to take steps toward that goal. So too, there is a desire to get back the time you believe you lost. You see today possibly different than you had envisioned it when you were younger. If you could go back, you believe you would have explored various talents, started working out sooner, declared another major, moved to another city and other aspects that seemed not as significant then but could have changed the course of your life. Your mind is focused on the past as a time when you were freer and everything was open to you.

Recollecting the great moments and highlights of your past is easy; you recall how happy or excited you felt. The thing is that for the most part, you are zooming in on that feeling on the hours or the day. The days surrounding that time are more blurry because maybe they weren’t so great – at that time you would not notice a significance.

Possibilities are often viewed as remote occasions, and that’s why you find yourself going back in time so often. You know all those movies and stories that teach you about how changing apparent small details from the past could alter the meaningful features of the present -well it’s telling the truth. Your closest friends, the relationships you have and all the other things that bring you happiness in present time might be completely altered had everything from before not happened as they did.

The best thing you can do is make the most of today. These hours are what you have to take action in and make memories that are fun to look back on. Realize that one day you may want to come back to today, so make it a day you would not change a thing about.

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