not having an 'undo' option or a rewind button is perhaps the most defining feature of life as we know it. you are given ONE chance to make your decision, good or bad, and you have to live with the outcome.
what does this linear and unidirectional path mean for us? what if there had been a 'what if' option in life? what if you could travel back in time and 'correct' a 'mistake'?
how wonderful!
...or is it?
would you erase a certain part of your life because it was painful? what about what followed the moment of pain? nobody i've ever met wants to live through the most horrendous part of their lives (read adolescence). but would we be 'complete' without going through that most testing period of our lives?
there are uncountable fantasy stories that deal with this subject ('mr.destiny' is a personal favourite), and ALL the better ones end the same way: "i wouldn't change a single thing, no matter what."
life is all about the choices we make, the paths we take or are forced upon by action or inaction. maturity lies in accepting life as it is and moving forward.
it's tempting to dream about 'what-ifs' and 'what-might-have-beens', but while we are busy fantasizing, we miss the beauty and splendour of the 'what-is'.
the person i am today is the sum total of all the choices i made in my past, but not for a moment do i dwell there. i'm too busy living it up in the now. for me, it's always "today is the first day of the rest of my life."
it's nice to feel nostalgic, but as someone wisely said, "nostalgia is good stalgia" because you spend too much time regretting 'missed opportunities'. and "you know you've become old when regrets replace hopes".
i intend to remain young until the day i die.
Well said, SA. Many people spend all their time reliving the past, turning to perfection a lost moment in their imagination. And in the process they miss out the rainbow right in front of their eyes. Worse, sometimes they catch the rainbow through the corner of eyes just as it is about to fade- then the story repeats. But then perhaps this is a way of life too- after all don't we all live our lives from within the head?
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