Successful people don’t let themselves get weighed down by their past. If you live in your past, you’ll never be happy in the present, especially if you have a painful past. When you live in the past, you stop looking forward, you stay in the past, you have a tough time fully embracing the present moment.
People stuck in the past display the following behaviour: they hold grudges, and they refuse to forgive others, they blame themselves for everything. Their feelings of guilt, shame, regret, and self-blame are what keep them stuck in the past and making it so hard for them to be happy. They are stuck in the ‘good old days’. They keep on talking only of the good old times and are stuck there, not living in the moment. To them, everything was better then. They always wonder about everything that actually keep them from living in the present moment; every missed opportunity, every chance they never took, or a choice they never made, and no matter how much time has passed since then, they can’t help but ask themselves if things would’ve been different, if they would be happier. Because they are living in the past, they reject new opportunities. They are not looking forward to anything. They are trapped in the past, they have no plans for the future because of this.
“If you feel stuck, move. You’re not a tree.” ― Germany Kent
“Getting stuck in the past is like guarding a cemetery.” ― Hugo Pratt
Isaiah 43:18-19 (NLT) “But forget all that— it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.
“There have been times, lately, when I dearly wished that I could change the past. Well, I can’t, but I can change the present so that when it becomes the past it will turn out to be a past worth having.” – Sir Terry Pratchett
Philippians 3:12 (NIV) Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
You have a bright future filled with joy, hope and excitement. Let, go of your past.
Proverbs 23:18 (TPT) Your future is bright and filled with a living hope that will never fade away.
Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG) I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
Philippians 1:6 (TLB) And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns.
I conclude with Lamentations 3:19-24 (MSG) I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness, the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed. I remember it all—oh, how well I remember— the feeling of hitting the bottom. But there’s one other thing I remember, and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I’m sticking with GOD (I say it over and over). He’s all I’ve got left.