Your Past Only Affects You If You Let It
By: Jacob Forton / February 19, 2023
Background:
Often times as we grow up in this game we call life, we as humans feel like if sometimes we have everything figured out and at the same time can be lost feeling as if we are never gonna escape the reality we are in based on the circumstances we face. Life is about making decisions and within each decision we make, we face a consequence whether its good or bad. These consequences are influenced on many external factors such as the friends we are with or situations we are in within our own lives that lead us to make a decision based on what our feelings or emotions wanted right in the moment. Sometimes people place labels on us based off our choices we make, however for the fellow struggler, a poor choice doesn't define you unless you let it!
Click of a button:
Furthermore, with social media's popularity and the dangerous amounts of time we spend on a screen, it's not only easy to pull up old memories of ourselves but also easy for people to see who you were once before just with a click of a button. For some like myself, I was labeled all kinds of names growing up, anywhere from "Scarface" because of my acne, no neck because I was heavy and practically lived in the weight room. But the worst one that I couldn't control were the comments about my height. I remember letting the judgement from others get to me whether that was face to face or on social media because people do tend to say some hurtful things which brings down your confidence. Obviously in a situation like this you have two options, you either change the things you can change or you hide and let others know their comments hurt you.
In addition, I chose the route of change and so I went on a diet lost weight and started seeing my neck again, I even hopped on Accutane and now have a clear face, however doing all of these things as a senior in highschool I would be so embarrassed of how my new college friends and teammates would be if they ever saw who I once was. However, in reality once I got to college, I realized that my friends now don't see those old photos of me as anything but a memory because that was so long ago.
If i could tell young me anything it would be that even though social media can make you look bad, or showcase some of our most embarrassing moments, your past doesn't follow you unless you let it. The past is something we must go through to figure out who we truly are. I am thankful for those hurtful comments and those sleepless nights wondering why people could be so mean, because ultimately it allowed me to reach my full potential. Whether I want to admit it or not hurtful comments and hate comments on social media sometimes are possibly true and if you give in and don't try to change you will stay in the same weak headspace and carry that on with you throughout life.
Use the past as a stepping stone
To the guy who thinks their past can't be changed, or feels like its still following them, think about it like this, it is only up to you to change and photos can always be deleted or edited. Therefore, why can't we update a new picture of ourselves by putting our past to the side and focus on the now. At the end of the day everyone uses social media in fake ways to make themselves look "cool" so how cool would it be if one day you posted and got nothing but love on your comments because you chose to make a commitment to be the best version of you instead of hiding in a shell afraid to be seen because of others judgement.
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