pasts, presents, and futures
Life is an ever-spinning wheel that keeps changing us. Our pasts mold us, our presents change us, and, as a consequence, we change our futures.
But sometimes, change is strange.
Sometimes, we change, and we’re not sure if it’s for better or worse. Sometimes, we don’t notice ourselves changing until we stop for a moment, look in the mirror, touch our faces, and don’t recognize who we see.
We mourn the pasts that were once presents; who could we have become if life didn’t treated us like it did? We convince ourselves that our pasts were beautiful and we mourn them, like our pasts aren’t what shaped our cruel presents.
But no matter how much we mourn, the wheel keeps spinning, and we keep living.
No matter how much you mourn the past, there will always be a present. You will be tempted to live in the past, but you must live in the present; how else will you change your future?
So live in the present, and remember to leave room for your past. If you don’t leave room for it, it will stand at your present’s door and repeatedly ring the doorbell until you let it in. Out of respect, you must give it space to live; only then will it stop ringing the bell, only then you will be able to make a future that is beautiful. (Like Maggie Smith said, “This place could be beautiful, right? You could make this place beautiful.”1)
And while you’re living in the present, you must try to love it. Even if you don’t love who you’ve become, even if you don’t love how life is treating you, you must try to love the process of becoming who you want to become. Who knows if you’ll live to see yourself become who you want to be? Try to find joy in the process of becoming; this is the secret to staying sane.
Respect your past, love your present, and build your future.
After all, life is yours. You must live it, so make it beautiful. (You can make this place beautiful.)
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/89897/good-bones