Have you ever known people who live in the past? They circle around it, never straying too far, as if it had its own gravity to hold them in orbit. Clinging to it as though it were some sort of life jacket in a tumultuous sea.
I get it, I really do. The past is safe. It is far easier to look back and see all the good things than it is to look forward and not know what you’ll find. Like photos that are taken with that fuzzy, beautifying feature; the flaws are blurred out. Even if it wasn’t necessarily all that pleasant the past holds comfort because, like a movie that you’ve watched before, the roles are clearly defined and you know how it’s going to end.
But I would submit to you that, watched often enough, that movie becomes less and less engaging and exciting. Eventually, you might even want to turn it off.
Whether or not you’re brave enough to is another matter.
The present is risky, sure. You never know how it’s going to turn out…what kind of future it’s going to bring you to. And some people just flat out prefer churning the past over and over with its mundane, predictable rhythm to the in-your-face unknown nature of the present.
Whether or not they admit this, the past is a choice they make. And I am always amazed when these people become confused, angry and upset when the present grows weary of being forsaken or ignored and moves on without them.
I myself have personally been sacrificed on the altar of the past more than once in my life. Perhaps the present I represented and the future I held out my hand to offer was more of a feisty, challenging adventure than they were willing to embark on.
So be it.
The beautiful thing about life is that we all have the right to choose how we want to live ours. That goes for the ones who paddle around in the known quantity of the shallows and for those of us to close our eyes, take a deep breath and cannonball into the deep.
But don’t expect me to be there when the safety starts to feel stale and it becomes obvious why the past is in fact…well, you know.
Because I won’t be.
Nothing stays the same. Not even the precious past. Guess what – it no longer even exists. It is nothing but memory.
How sad to invest so heavily in a shadow when the bright, thrumming present veritably vibrating with potential, stands before you beckoning.
Could I choose the past? Heck yeah. I have memories of times when I was so happy and felt so loved that I didn’t know what to do with myself. Experiences. People. I could tell you stories that would makes your cheeks ache with laughter or your eyes well with tears. But I won’t.
I want new stories.
Life is a series of choices. I know which one I’m making.
Life is this moment…………we are this moment.
the zeitgeist of zoe 