Gotta Look Forward, Not Back

You know you are on the right track when you become uninterested in looking back

With May being Mental Health Awareness Month and with the pandemic, our well-being is important to maintain. There may have been things that happened that maybe you didn’t handle right or you could have handled better. You probably said something you wished you didn’t say or wished you did say. I personally have been in these situations plenty of times. So now you know that your not the only person in the world who has been in this predicament. Yet what’s done is done and sometimes we can’t go back and fix it.

Why is Moving Forward Hard?

In a post from last month, I talked about how to move on from people. This time I want to talk about moving forward in general and not looking back. You can get stuck in a rut and not know how to get out, yet life still moves on. Moving forward and not looking back is easier said than done. You’ve probably had someone who has told you this one way or another. It can be tough because you may have had a falling out with a friend who hurt you or betrayed your trust. You broke up with your boyfriend or girlfriend, got divorced, got fired from your job, got a bad grade on a test, etc. So many awful and unfortunate things happen to us. We wish that we could go back in time and fix them, but we can’t. We get stuck replaying the event or events that took place wondering what went wrong. We try to make sense out of it when in fact sometimes we can’t. We can drive ourselves crazy to the point where we don’t eat, bathe, sleep, hydrate, or snap at other people.

We wish things could’ve been different, but we can’t cry over spilled milk. If we do, life can slip away from us and we don’t even realize how much time has passed. There are great things out in the world; sometimes we get so obsessed with a the bad things that we miss out on a trip to the zoo, a family cookout, your best friends birthday, hiking with friends, etc. You may even push away people who care about you that are trying to help you move on. You may feel like you want to be alone which I get because I wanted to be alone when something bad happened. It’s best not to forget the people who like you, love, and care for you because they may be hurting because you are hurting.

So if your stuck and having trouble moving forward and your life here is some ways that could help you:

Letting go of the past can help free you from the pain your feeling. Again easier said than done in some cases. You still have the chance to shape your future the way you want. Tomorrow is a new day to start over and make it whatever you want it to be. You can fill it with positive and joyful things. You may not think you can because you’re feeling down, but the reality is you can.

Living in gratitude can help you remember the good things you already have in your life. Think about the people in your life. Friends family, other students, co-workers, and acquaintances. You probably have a lot more people in your life who don’t give you any kind of trouble or argue with you on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. That’s something to be grateful of; the fact that you’re not fighting or arguing with everyone in your life everyday is a blessing. You can even think about the things you have. Do you have your own means of transportation? Do you have food and water to keep you fed and hydrated? Do you have a bed to sleep on? Do you have the option of wearing different clothes everyday? Do you have a phone and a computer? There are so many things (small things) we take for granted that are actually things we should be grateful for. There are people out there who don’t have any of these things and pray that they could have at least one of them. We’re surrounded by more good things that we are bad things; we just don’t always notice it.

Take ownership of your life. Remember you are in full control of your life. Don’t let those who put you in a negative state of mind dictate how you should behave. You may have to repeat positive affirmations and talk positively about yourself to remind yourself of the person you really are. You can get out of the rut; it may take time and effort, but you can do it.

Here is a video that talks about how to let go of the past and different ways then what I’ve described to move forward in your life and find peace within yourself.

Wrap Up

Moving forward in your life isn’t just moving forward from bad things that happened to you, it’s also making something of your life. If you feel like you can’t get past the hurt or that the rut you’re in is so deep that there is no hope, ask someone who was in the predicament you were in. They got out of it and moved on; so that should give you hope and can give you motivation to do so yourself. Even if you make a little bit of progress in a day, that’s still good. This shows that you’re moving forward even if it’s a slow pace. You got to find what pace works for you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. As I mentioned before, your real friends and family will be there for you if you need support and comfort. Remember there is one person in your life who cares about you; you know who they are.