Our choices in life, past and present: Facing forward, never turning back

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Our choices in life, past and present: Facing forward, never turning back

SAM HOUSTON

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

Modern science consistently can surprise and sometimes shock me. In the short period of the last 50 years, inventions like the microwave, cell phones, and the internet have transformed our lives in many astonishing ways. Once breakthrough discoveries or inventions become reality, the world is changed for everyone to one degree or the other. Even if you resist the change, so much of the world adapts to the newness, it makes it impossible to stand on the sidelines and act like the change never happened. One way or the other, slowly but surely, change is going to come to each of our doorsteps and take us in.

It is nice to long for the past. It is a safe place we have already lived through, and we know no matter the troubles or conflicts, we will be OK because we know we survived to get to the present. Oh there may have been struggles or pains to endure, but the truth is we made it through. The uncertain future is what makes us fearful. What might change next? What problems might arise? How do we know we will make it through?

It is not only science and technology that changes our lives. The choices we make stamp our lives with permanent ink, and we live with the consequences. Deciding to drop out of school, getting pregnant at an early age, or rushing into marriage are all decisions that impact a life’s course. The change could be for the positive, or perhaps for the negative, but without a doubt, it impacts how the rest of your life plays out.

It doesn’t do any good to look back and reconsider each decision we have made. Heck I have made more than my fair share of decisions that impacted me significantly, but when I made a choice, I knew I would have to live with the consequences. Sometimes those consequences have been a bitter pill to swallow. Other decisions led me to success and happiness. Looking back and trying to reevaluate what might have, or could have happened, is nothing more than lost time. The past cannot be changed, nor the consequences that stem from it. The only hope one can have is to take the experience of living through the past, and make better choices going forward.

Perhaps deliberation is a trait we learn from life. How jumping into a marriage, a business deal, a relocation, or a job change, all are cause for reflection, analyzation, and calm deliberation. It is best to make decisions about the future based on the knowledge and wisdom gained over years of living, than to haphazardly “jump” without knowing how deep the water might be. ‘Cause once you jump, you will be in the “water” dealing with the consequences.

Most of the big decisions in my life have been made. I decided on where to live, who to be married to, what work I would do, and how I would conduct myself in relation with others. Now, the remaining life decisions to be made are much more finite: when will I retire, where and how will I spend my final days, and how I spend my remaining time. There is no reason to be afraid of the uncertainty. My remaining life decisions will be based on what I have learned in the past and optimism about the future. There will not be uncertainty or fear, for I know life is to be lived looking forward, not looking back and wanting to repair the roadway I have made. Look forward, that is where we are all headed.

Thought for the day: The past is your lesson. The present is your gift. The future is your motivation.

Until next time I will keep ridin’ the storm out.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260