The Thankful List

Reflection over past events is an important piece of learning, however to keep revisiting situations, relationships, and events can have negative effects. It is easy for us to be critical of our past selves and mull over what we should have said or done. Living in the past can cause our present selves to over think or not partake in experiences that could be beneficial because we are worried we will make the same mistakes again. It’s important to remember when we find ourselves starting to replay the past to remember the reason the we can so clearly see what we should have done or said then is because we have grown, we have used the past and learned from it. We are wiser now than we were before so the answers to the past become more clear. Don’t be afraid you will make the same mistakes of the past, you have learned and are now wiser for it for the future. 

Other people will tell you that you can’t do things, you can’t reach your goals. Don’t listen to them. They don’t know what is in your heart, they don’t know how hard you are fighting to attain your goal. Know that you have it inside you to reach beyond what others think is possible. Know you can achieve your goal.

“Life is not tried, it is merely survived

if you’re standing outside the fire”

-Garth Brooks 

As a soon to be college grad I can tell you one thing that has been haunting my dreams since August, change. The unknown has always had a profound grip on my nerves. I don’t like it but as I have gotten older, I have tried to accept it to the best of my ability. 

It’s interesting how four years ago I planned a little life out for myself about how things would go and where I would be in four years. Standing at the end of my college career four years later, it is very different from where I thought I’d be. Some of my plans didn’t work out, some I am still trying to attain, and others (the glorious few) have far exceeded my expectations of what I thought I could accomplish.

As of now, I am not sure what the future holds, I still have my big goals of what I need to do and where I would like to be. It’s just going to be hard to leave Virginia Tech and the comfort of going to classes, sorority meetings, and being surrounded by mountains and Hokie stone. It’s hard to settle with the fact that this time next year I will not be sitting in the Biology Building stressing over classes. It’s even harder to settle with the fact that I have no idea what I will be doing this time next year. 

But even though I have these feelings I have to look forward to the future, I have to look change in the eye and say “okay what’s coming next.” Because we can’t just sit around and lament on the past, we can’t become trapped in wishing we could go back in time and do it all over again. We have to look for the future and see what’s in store for us there, because that is where we all are headed, ready or not. 

You cannot keep making yourself upset or angry about things that have happened in the past. It is so tempting to revisit old hurt feelings but this doesn’t help soothe the past, it only hurts the present. It brings things up that were supposed to be laid to rest, forgiven, and forgotten. People change, people grow. You have grown yourself. Therefore, stop reverting back to and thinking of your past self and past situations. Don’t ruin the future with things from the past. Recognize that they have happened and move on.