I remember when I was younger, and would in history class, and I would hear the tales of the great men of the world. The one thing that they always seemed to have was the ability to forget the past, and just take mistakes in stride. When I would listen to the stories of those who either failed, or just went crazy, they were always tragically cut short by their own mind. I vowed to myself that I wouldn’t let the past control what I did in the future, and that I would never let a past failure doom me to continued failure in the future.
As I grew up, I realized that it isn’t as easy as it looks. When you aren’t doing so well at something it gets really hard to believe that you might ever accomplish your goals. I remember in high school being so confident that I asked out a cheerleader despite almost being a nobody, and I even got a yes. I came to quickly realize she was just humoring me, and was the type that didn’t know how to say no, but still its a good start. Unfortunately, that was the last yes I got for almost five years. I went from being really confident to not even wanting to talk to girls anymore.
Somewhere along the line I realized that I had become exactly what I didn’t want to be. I remembered sitting in the cybercafe with a friend of mine one night at school, and we were talking about girls, and our failures. I had an epiphany then, and I realized I was one of those guys sitting around late at night telling tales of failure. I vowed that I wouldn’t ever let that happen, and even if I had a hard time, you don’t get anywhere by moping about it.
Every so often though you have to learn from your failures, as sometimes your failures indicate something you don’t want to do again. When you burn your hand on the stove, you learn not to do that again. However, if you go skydiving, and you break your arm, you might not want to do it again. Even if you enjoyed the dive, you might only remember that you broke your arm, and don’t want to go through that again. That is one of those times where you just suck it up and go again. The only way to face the fear is to go through with what you are scared of.
Never let hindsight get in the way of something that you want to do in life. If you get rejected for a business loan by three banks, just go to the fourth. If you get rejected by three publishing companies, just go to the fourth. If you have a dream, you just need to go for it, and to not achieve is better than to just outright give up on something. Don’t let the past ruin your hopes for the future, or stop you from going for an opportunity.
The moral of the story is that those who can get over the past have much better futures. If you stay stuck in the past, you won’t ever get far in the future. It will always be the dark time of your life is you can never see that light at the end of the tunnel. Just keep at it, and always realize that each opportunity is a clean slate. Take the chance, you never know where it could take you.
