Life moves quickly. Without even realizing it, we give away pieces of ourselves. We forget our dreams. We forget we had choices. We forget who we were.
–––
It’s so easy to lose yourself. In technology. In other people. In the latest pop culture craze. In a job. In things you think you want. In things other people want. In things society tells you that you should want.
And while we’re busy juggling all of these things, we change.
- We forget who we were.
- We forget what we actually wanted.
- We forget what we believed in.
- We forget what made us happy.
- We forget what made us feel alive.
Maybe this was no accident. Maybe we wanted to forget who we used to be. Our past is often filled with painful episodes, things we’ve tried to forget. But try as we might to forget, the painful things from our past still influence our present and our future. As agonizing as it might be to recall who we were, it’s played a huge part in who we are today.
Often times, things change so quickly and we’re so focused on the here and now that we forget we once had a choice. But more often than not, becoming a different person isn’t a conscious choice; it’s something that just happens.
|
Sometimes, just a few years in the past can feel like a different life. The things we did on a daily basis, the things that occupied our thoughts, and the things we cared about might be completely different today.
Life changes quickly, and it’s astonishing how decades of growing into yourself can be undone in a matter of a few years when you’re placed in a different situation.
But perhaps the more astonishing thing is that we rarely notice how much we’ve changed. We rarely notice that we’ve forgotten who we used to be and that we’ve morphed into a completely different person. It can reach a point where who we used to be seems like an idealistic figment of our imagination.
Often times, things change so quickly and we’re so focused on the here and now that we forget we once had a choice. But more often than not, becoming a different person isn’t a conscious choice; it’s something that just happens.
As the days become weeks, the weeks become months, and the months become years, we slowly give pieces of ourselves away. Until there’s nothing left.
Perhaps the most difficult part of life’s journey is to remember who you were when you started.
Remembering who you used to be might be the most difficult part of the journey, but it’s also the most important.
|
Who you were before you gave all those pieces of yourself away. Who you were before things changed. Who you were before you made compromises. Who you were before life revolved around a bank account. Who you were before you bought a house and started a family. Who you were before you had to make sacrifices. Who you were before things got so busy. Before everything was classified as ‘urgent’. Before you felt like the walls were closing in. Before you resigned yourself to a safe and comfortable life that’s largely stripped of passion and excitement.
Remembering who you used to be might be the most difficult part of the journey, but it’s also the most important.
Maybe the memory of who you were serves as a reminder of how far you’ve come and how much you’ve accomplished. Maybe the memory of who you were leads to the grim realization of how far you’ve strayed from your ideals and aspirations.
Either way, it’s an invaluable perspective to gain.
No matter how much we’ve changed along the way, the things we truly believed in and were passionate about are undoubtedly still burning somewhere underneath the surface of who we are today. Which is why tapping into who you used to be is so important.
Remembering who you used to be can be a frightening experience, but the only thing more frightening is not remembering who you used to be.
|
Regardless of how you feel about who you were, there’s value in remembering. It can either motivate you to keep going down the path you’ve started on or it can show you that it’s time for a change.
Remembering who you were can be painful. It’s something that can cause you to question everything about who you are right now. Your motivations. Your desires. Your thoughts. Your goals. All of these things are suddenly being looked at through the lens of who you used to be.
And through that lens, the present can seem amazing and fulfilling. Or it can seem meaningless and disappointing.
Remembering who you used to be can be a frightening experience, but the only thing more frightening is not remembering who you used to be.
——
Photo: Republica/Pixabay
Sometimes remembering who you used to be is a good motivation for working to become someone better. I am not so concerned about who I used to be, I am and no longer want to be him, I’m more concerned about who I want to be. (which I’ll admit has shades of who I used to be in there). But who I used to be is someone I out grew and just don’t see it serving me anymore. My passions have changed, my life has changed… and who I want to be is pretty hard to pass up.
Indeed I see it happening to people who become successful so fast that they totally forget why they wanted to be successful in the first place now they think they are above everybody else because they have the money/power but they totally forget about their core values that they used to have. Great Article and we should never forget why we do something and remember who we used to be and why we did the things we wanted to do.