Leaving the Past Behind.

I am constantly amazed at how people hold onto the past. I'm not referring to the typical memories that we all want and should hold onto. Picture of our babies, cards our loved ones have given to us, mementos of our youth. Those of course we will always have with us. These are things that most people always keep a little bit of in boxes here and there. They rarely take over our lives but rather hold a small place in it. When we need a reminder of that lovely time in our lives we pull out the box filter through the pieces and when we're done file them away till we need the again.

I find I'm saddened by those that hold onto the past like a talisman. The stroke it and hold it close even when it causes them pain. I know a few people who hold onto the pain of child hood or even the "popularity" of high-school as though it were yesterday. Decades have passed and yet they can pull upon those memories, thoughts and events as though they had happened only moments ago. It is their crutch. They allow it to paint their every day actions and excuse their bad behaviors. Petulance and Over sized ego's blend into an every day drama that seems to wash away any and all good sense when it comes to how to behave. We all have pain from childhood, we all have drama in our lives and there is no scale upon which to measure it. Mine is not more than yours and yours is not more than mine. That which is in the past is exactly that in the past. If you are indeed a grown up and have not found a way to leave your pain from the past ....in the past, then that needs to be your first priority.

My childhood was no picnic. But I survived it. I'm a grown woman with children that I will give a better life to than I had. I've learned quite simply that resentment is very simply a sharp stone held in the hand. It hurts no one but myself. Have I let all of it go? No. But I have found good ways to deal. Quite simply people grow up. Move on. You aren't children any more, you aren't teenagers any more, get over yourselves and realize it's not all about you any more.