How to Stop Letting Your Past Ruin Your Future

So many of us go through life not realizing that we are making the same mistakes over and over again. Often times we don’t even realize it until the same outcome keeps happening.

Most of the time it is because we let our past mistakes or the bad things that happened to us before dictate how we live in the here and now. It is about time we start with a clean slate and stop letting the past ruin our future. Because let’s face — it we still have a long road ahead of us to keep living that way.

Here are five ways to help let go of your past to make room for that awesome future that lies ahead:

1. Learn to forgive.

In order to stop letting your past ruin your future you must forgive the person who hurt you. It could be forgiving yourself for making the same choices over and over. It could be forgiving a person who really made a negative impact on your life causing you to repeat certain behavior.

If you cannot forgive who ever hurt you will continue to hold onto that anger and that anger will only hold you back. You cannot have a clear future without a clear heart.

2. Let go of the past.

The only two men I have ever loved in my life left me with a broken heart. After that I spent many years closing my heart off to every guy I met because I thought it would be better for me. If it felt like things were getting serious, I would find ways to sabotage the relationship or find a stupid reason not to like them.

Then I realized the only reason I was single was because I was choosing to be alone. That is not way to live.

As soon I let go of what they had done to me, I was finally able to open my heart up to the possibility of love. Yes, I have not found the one. And yes, I still have been hurt, but I would much rather risk getting hurt then never falling in love again.

3. Choose the opposite.

If you keep choosing option A and keep coming up short and disappointed, maybe it is time to start choosing option B. Albert Einstein said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And you know what, he was right.

Maybe you keep going back to the same job. Maybe you are broke but keep going on a shopping spree and wonder at the end of the month why you are still broke. Maybe you keep going for the bad boy or girl hoping you will finally be the one to change them.

Whatever the choice is, it isn’t working, so stop already!

4. Write it down.

Writing down your feelings about certain situations is one of the best ways to organize your thoughts and really see how you feel. There is something about putting it down on paper that can bring you a real sense of clarity that you’ve been missing.

Next time you find yourself about to let that pesky past creep in, try writing down how you feel and why you feel that way. You may discover something you didn’t even know was lying underneath the surface.

5.  Let go of the fear.

I would say one of the biggest reasons the past ruins our future is fear. Fear can be a very powerful emotion that will derail even the smartest people from the path they should be on.

I was always the person who was very involved in extra-curricular activities. But somewhere along the way I become afraid to try after a few setbacks. It really affected my confidence. I was afraid to do the things I wanted. Now I try to face the fear head on. Since I have so many doors have opened up for me in all aspects of my life. If you live in fear your whole life there is so much that you will miss out on.

I know a lot of this is easier said then done, but there is no day like today to start changing. Take a moment and think about what from your past is holding you back from your potential future and think of the ways you can change this from continuing to happen. We have way more control over our lives than we realize. This life is short and we should honor it by doing all we can to live it.

How are you going to stop letting your past dictate your future?

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