Chapter 3: Looking Back

By Isla Skylark -
The past is important. It is a place that one can learn from. It is a place that will always exist and one cannot run away from it.

I have always looked back in my life; looking back helped me make decisions, it helped me confirm decisions, it showed what worked and what didn't work, and it gave me a frame of reference.

Today, I helped my mother do a health assessment; and I could not help, but be reminded of what my personal health record looks like. Now my mom is recommended health guidance for some areas of her life and moving forward, in whatever task she takes on in the rest of her life, her health stats loom over her. And the same goes for me.

As I grow older, I'm faced with things that I can change now so my health won't be negatively affected later. For example, last year I started smoking on and off, and I still do. I should probably stop so my risk of heart disease can decline now; then there's the sex stuff, is having sex, really worth the risks...and then there's the increased ability to drink alcoholic beverages. Nevermind, the anxiety and stress stuff that give me chest pains. This is not how I want to live.

I do not want my past and the decisions I've made to make my future less appealing!

However, the point I originally intended to make with this post, is that you should not try to bury your past or to try to run away from it.  If I were the one taking the health assessment, I think I would have done slightly worse than my mom, because of my current lifestyle. However, because I cannot change the fact that I have smoked, have had some form of a sex life, or drank too much as multiple points over the past year; if this information is not on record and if (touch wood), something were to go wrong with me in my future, I would want whatever information available about me be known (to the health professional attending to me).

Conclusion: no matter how ashamed or unhappy you feel about your past, it can help you in some way or another. I'm not saying that you should tell the world about your past, I'm saying, stop running from and denying it, and live now with your head held high. The past can help you moving forward. Just acknowledge that it exists.

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