Learn to Draw (from your past)

To look back on our past is often discouraged and sometimes even frowned upon. We're usually told to "move on" or "forget" about the things that happen to us along the way but I believe such advice has the potential to prevent us from growing and evolving into the person we are meant to be. So for this reason, I'd like to talk about the idea of "drawing from your past."

We've all had things happen to us in our lives that we'd rather forget, or not acknowledge. But what if those events happened in order to prevent you from experiencing something worse? They say everything happens for a reason, so if that's true, then why not embrace the not-so-good the way we do the good? Although during the time you may feel defeated, unfortunate circumstances are not for nothing. They're put in place to either teach us something or help us to appreciate what we already know.

I think it's also important to note that drawing from the past, is not the same as living in the past. It simply means that you use your experiences to help avoid making the same mistakes  again. Likewise, if you are successful at something, reflecting on the journey that it took to get there may help inspire you to reach for new ground.

The bottom line is, we can't stop all bad things from happening to us, but we can choose how we deal with them. After all, the only difference between a good day and a bad day, is our attitude.