Remove the Middle
I’m fascinated by the conversations we’ve had these last few days. We’ve known each other since 4th grade, but we haven’t talked in what feels like decades. You remember things from before I was even 10 years old (like my mom helping your cheer team, and how shy I used to be), things that I didn’t even remember myself. And now, you’re seeing the person I am today, and you’re seeing the impact I’m having on the people around me.
The positive memories from childhood, and the “teacher” you claim that I am now (with my site, my writings, and my influence), is all you really know of me. That’s fascinating. There’s no in-between: just childhood and now. None of the middle, none of the mess that I seem to dwell on. That’s an interesting perspective to have. It has me thinking about the middle, and how we tend to worry about it way too much. In the grand scheme of life, all those little things that we stress over on a daily basis, all that in-between, is irrelevant compared to what’s in front of us and what’s to come.
We were kids, and now we’re here. The problems we had last year, or the year before that – to a person that we haven’t connected with in decades, they only see now. All of our shortcomings and things we regret. All those little moments that we wish we could take back. All those tiny situations that we think define the person we are today. They don’t.
We were kids, and now we’re here. It’s this very moment that makes up who we are right now, and its this simple perspective that gives us a unique opportunity to be the best version of ourselves today, without worrying about who we were before.