Past. Present. Future. 

These three things have been on my mind lately. And the more I think about these three things, the more I’m infatuated by their significance and relation to one another.

The past can haunt you, making it extremely hard to accept your present. 

Your present can be a gruesome battlefield that makes it hard to build a future. 

And your future can be a scary place that instills fear and doubt in your conscience. 

Personally, I wasn’t always accepting of my past. 

I used to not take care of myself, I tried to be someone that I wasn’t, I struggled with depression, I often made bad decisions and I ran away from my true feelings — and if I wasn’t running, I was hiding from them.

I wasn’t always happy with my present, either. 

I tend to be lazy, I often procrastinate, I don’t cater to my aptitudes, I don’t take things seriously, I set goals but don’t reach for them, I isolate myself, I struggle with confidence and I don’t trust my intuition.

And I wasn’t always motivated by my future. 

I don’t look at the big picture, I never saw myself being successful, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life, I often feared the worst-case scenario and I gave up on my dreams before giving them a chance.

I wasn’t satisfied with myself — but wasn’t doing anything to change it. 

I made the wrong decisions often — but never learned from them. 

I wasn’t achieving my truest potential — but wasn’t reaching for it, either.

I knew I was destined for more in life — but wasn’t materializing it. 

While that has changed for the better and I’ve managed to rewrite my path in life (for the most part), I know I’m not the only one that felt that way and I know that there are others currently in similar situations. 

Hell, that person might be you and I want you to know that I’m rooting for you — and always will be.

Because I get it.

Some people struggle with their past. Some struggle with their present. Some struggle with their future. 

Maybe you’re like me and struggle with all three — but that’s okay. 

Because it doesn’t have to be a life sentence. At least, it shouldn’t be. 

Now, I’m not going to stand here and pretend to have all the answers, because I don’t. I do, however, know what helped me find peace in my life.

Peace with my past, present, and future. 

And all it took was a change in mindset.

A new perspective. 

One day, I thought to myself:

“Everything I’m doing will one day be what I did.” 

I then started to piggyback off that one, little, simple thought. 

The only reason I had a hard time accepting my past was because I wasn’t making the right decisions in my present. And not making the right decisions in my present was setting me up for the wrong future. 

I was experiencing an imbalance in my life — and that imbalance was toxic.

It was difficult to stomach. And when I finally made that connection, it turned heartbreaking. 

It made me wonder how much time I had wasted and how little I had accomplished. 

It made me wonder what I might’ve been capable of if I had given myself a true chance in life — a real opportunity at reaching my utmost potential.

But that was then — so, what about now? 

I can’t change the past, but I can start to make changes right here in this moment to open the door to a better future. I can change this, but only if it’s what I dedicate myself to. 

I thought to myself once more:

“Everything I’m doing will one day be what I did.“

If I could change what I’m doing today, I can change what I’m destined for in the future. And if I make the right changes today, my tomorrow will be brighter. 

And when tomorrow finally comes, I’ll be able to look back at my yesterday with content. 

Only then will I be able to accept my past. 

Only then will I be happy with my present.

And only then will I be excited for my future. 

Past. Present. Future.

Don’t lose sight of how much those three experiences have in common. 

Your past was once your present. 

Your present will one day be your past. 

And your future — that’s just your present that hasn’t happened yet. 

In other words, your present is a result of who you were — the decisions you made. And your future will be determined by who you are — right now in this very moment.

And your past, well, there might not be any way of changing it, but there’s certainly a way to learn from it — to use it to your advantage, both in the present and the future. 

If you do that enough, you’ll start to accept your past, live in the present and look forward to the future. 

Past. Present. Future.