Tuesday @ Ten - PAST

The days seem to just fly by, with little time to really write.  I always try to link up with my friend, Karen, but never seem to make it until the last minute!  But, here I am...



Be sure to check out Karen's Facebook group for the Tuesday @ Ten followers here.


This week's prompt is:  PAST



Do you dwell on your past?  Do you keep wondering what your life would have been like if you had done things differently?

I do!  Well, I don't think I actually dwell on it; but there are times I wonder...

What if I had gone to college - instead of business school?

What career would I have had with that college education?

Would I still be working instead of retired before even reaching 65 years of age?

Where would I be living?  What would my life have been like?  Would I be married?  Have children?

What would I be doing if I had not moved from job to job to yet another job?  Or, even if I had not moved from Georgia to Florida when my first husband and I separated.

Or what about this...

What if I had not opened that door to the person asking for help?  If I had just ignored the knock, would he have gone away?

Well, I don't like to dwell on the past.  I don't really like to dwell on that particular incident either.

But, sometimes the past just creeps into our head and stays there until we deal with it.  Sometimes the past becomes part of the present and needs to be worked through.

I don't regret the actions I took...

Not go to college?  I was so tired of school; but knew I needed a little more "something".  So, I took my grandfather up on paying for a year in business school.  I went a full year, but no degree!

Eventually I was able to get a job; and it took me into a clerical career that crossed many types of businesses from banking to insurance to church office administration; and has also helped in some of my "extra-curricular" activities like secretary and treasurer for our women's group.

It's hard to think where I might be if I had continued on a different path.  As I said, I don't regret my actions!  I have lived a very full and wonderful life ... with moments of not-so-wonderful, too.

It is not unusual for us to have those not-so-wonderful times during our lives.  It can't all be perfect, can it?

I have come to the conclusion that our past is what has prepared us for the present; and what we do with the present prepares us for our future.  It doesn't really do any good to dwell on our past, unless we are learning something from it.

What have I learned?  I'm not sure...perhaps what I just said, that our past prepares us for the present; and the present prepares us for our future.

What about you?  Have you learned from your past?


I know that everyone hasn't had an awesome past; I know that many of us have things we are still trying to deal with even now.  Everyone is different; these words I share come from me and my experiences.  They do not speak of what everyone experiences!