Your present determines your past. Not the other way around. Here is what I mean
The way you interpret past events in your life affects how you live today more than the events themselves.
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Life is full of bad events, both anticipated and unforeseen, and how you interpret these events is more important than how they unfold.
As humans one of our strengths is the ability to frame and interpret our experiences and events based on our beliefs.
There are 2 major frameworks that we use to interpret most things that happen in our lives:
Things Happen for a Reason:
Some people believe that everything, even bad stuff, happens for a reason or to fulfill a purpose. They believe there’s a bigger plan or lesson behind each event.
This belief helps them find meaning in tough times and stay positive, looking for what they can learn from their experiences.
Things Just Happen:
Others believe that life is random and some things just happen without any real reason. For them, it’s about accepting what comes their way and finding peace with the randomness of life.
None of the frameworks can be said to be better than the other
What’s important is that the framework you chose empowers you.
The key is that is that how you perceive things now and rationalize the past is a way to redefine your past.
Let’s use a few examples to further explore this concept.
For instance, let’s say you struggled with an addiction in your past, ruined relationships with your loved ones and lost your house, but then overcame it.
You can choose to see yourself as a failure; someone who is irresponsible, failed and disappointed your loved ones. Or you can choose to see yourself as someone who faced a tough challenge and overcame it.
In another case, let’s say you were an investor who made some bad investments and lost all your money.
You can either see yourself as someone who is unforgivable, bad at investing, terrible at managing and making money or you can see yourself as a good manager who made a mistake, learned from it and can use it to be a great investor.
In this sense, how you frame those things that happened in the past using today’s perspective is telling your brain how to really think of how your past went.
This concept doesn’t mean that you deceive yourself or don’t take ownership of your shortcomings and mistakes. Instead, it’s a way to allow you to get out of your own way so you can fix the mistakes where applicable or move and move on.
Seeing your struggles or bad experiences as challenging things you got through can make you feel stronger, more confident and more capable.
