When Our Past Returns

A few days ago, I heard from someone who I hadn’t talked to in 5 years. The last conversation we had wasn’t a good one and I never expected to hear from her again. Then, all of a sudden, I received a message, wishing me a happy birthday and congratulating me on my new kid. I was in shock and I couldn’t respond for a couple of days because I needed to process. It’s interesting when that does happen. It was a really nice message and I was glad to hear from that person. 

When a relationship of any type ends, there is usually a reason for it. I know, in this case, I had hurt the person pretty badly and I didn’t know if she would ever understand the reason behind it. It took a lot for her to message me just to say as much as she did and I really respect her for it. It makes me think that maybe she finally understood why the relationship ended. 

I’ve been through this before. Just like most people, I have had falling outs with different people throughout my life, whether it was a friend or a relationship. And, in my experience, one of the two people involved, if not both, will eventually come back and show that they have put the past behind them. There have been times when we walk away from something that is not good for us personally and hope that one day, the person involved will understand the reasons we move on. 

But, when we do finally hear from whomever we have had the problems with, it still comes as a shock. We don’t expect to hear an apology, let alone good wishes from someone who we have ended on bad terms with. 

I hope that, one day, every relationship of mine that had ended badly does eventually resolve itself. I hope that we can find a way to move past our past and maybe that will lead us to making sure our current and future relationships are good. It takes a big person to be able to walk forward and I still see people who hold onto the bad even though they have a chance to move towards the good. There are people that refuse to accept an apology or find ways to see the other side’s point of view, regardless of who was right or wrong. I don’t want to be one of those people. 

I’m not saying that everyone deserves a second chance but usually, in these types of situations, it doesn’t hurt to at least try.

Sometimes, we just need our past to return to show us where we used to be and where we are now. 

Competition

Does it feel like sometimes life is a competition? We want to be the first to graduate, first to be a success in our career, first to get married, first to have kids. Then, we will probably repeat this cycle with the next generation as well.

What makes us so competitive? Why don’t we live our life according to our own timeline, to our own standards? Why do we feel like we have to win something by being first?

It’s difficult to accept sometimes that we are right where we are supposed to be. The reason we haven’t reached a certain milestone in our lives is because we weren’t meant to be there quite yet.

I honestly believe that everything has a reason and sometimes, we can’t see that reason until later. Hindsight is definitely a lot clearer than the present.

Everything around us dictates competition. We are in a world that teaches us that we have to go against each other so that we can be number one in something. Why can’t we be satisfied in achieving what we want to achieve and then being at peace with that?

It’s okay not to be the best (at least what the world considers the best). It’s okay to be happy with yourself as you are. It’s okay to know what you look to achieve in life and once you have reached that goal, it’s good to be satisfied with what you have achieved.

Be happy with where you are in life. It’s definitely more fun than always being competitive.