Stop Living In The Past

It's okay to visit but not live there

I’m a huge proponent of using your past to help propel you towards your future. You have a long list of victories you’ve accomplished in your past.

From the first client you landed for your organization to the process improvement you suggested which saved the business millions of dollars to helping out on the shop floor so production could keep going. There are so many great victories in your past. And it is okay to revisit your victories.

Old van from the past with text of stop living in the past

Image by Dillon Klassen

Yet you can’t live there. You can’t live in the past. Not in your victories and ESPECIALLY not in your defeats.

I’ve recently experienced a bout of living in the past. It’s the recent past but the past none the less…

Pam and I recently purchased a used Kia Soul. We really liked the look and feel of the vehicle. And the price seemed great at the time.

But things change.

As I begin looking back at my used car purchase, I see areas of regret. I see things I missed when looking at the car. And I failed to be a better negotiator.

This is where living in the past really hurts. You can’t change what’s happened but you still want to DWELL on past events.

Looking at the car buying experience, I realize I made some mistakes. Still, I also made a great deal that allowed Pam and I to have our own vehicles so we didn’t have to rely on a single car to get us to our different offices every day.

Instead of focusing on what went wrong with the transaction, I should be looking towards the future. To what this new vehicle will allow us to do.

The Kia Soul is bigger than our old vehicles. We can use the Kia Soul to transport more kids to or from youth group.

We really like the look of the car. There will be plenty of fun driving it.

This model of the Kia Soul had a 6-speed manual transmission. We desired a manual transmission and they can be hard to find.

There is plenty of room for us to transport Lok to dog shows or to the lake for a fun day.

The vehicle is reliable. We won’t have to worry about the Kia Soul breaking down.

When you focus on the past, especially the bad circumstances in our past, you focus on things that bring you down. When you change the focus to the future and the good that can come from even the worst of circumstances, you can see hope. You can see life.

So let’s stop living in the past. Let’s begin living in the present and what’s to come.

Question: Are you living in the past, present, or future? How’s it working for you? Let me know in the comment section below.

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