The Rear Vision Mirror

It's in books, music, and quotes - Never Look Back is a thing.

These three words supposedly eliminate feelings of regret for a bunch of reasons such as never look back because you're now on the trajectory of success. Or, never look back because heartache ripped your soul to shreds but look at you now - you are the epitome of success on fire.

Never look back is to move away from something (refer to above).

Like looking in a rear vision mirror, I looked back. I looked back on times where I believed I was happiest and by doing so, wasted years of my life.

On a recent road trip south of two State borders I spent weeks revisiting old haunts.

Who knew that instead of feelings of reconnection and all-encompassing love, I laid ghosts of the past to rest instead.

For decades my heart stored sweet memories of seasons past but upon my arrival at said old haunts I discovered the good time vibes were gone. Vanished. Nada. Those nostalgic feelings had disappeared.

After much thought and several mugs of flat-whites with soy, it dawned on me. I'd stored time-bites of happy memories and often referred to them keeping them alive resulting in years of out-of-date memories looping around my heart.

The reality was people had moved on or away, some were no longer here, some divorced others remarried and created new, happy memories.

The past is the past - never look back, keep moving forward

Through this monumental Aha moment I felt lighter, liberated, my heart stopped yearning for the impossible, and with that came hope for a fresh start into my Third Age.

The paradox is I then began the grieving process of having let go.

Seriously, life sucks sometimes but I dusted myself off, pulled up my britches and got on with it.

The old haunts no longer hold a particular interest to me but are simply places where I once occupied space and had a ripsnorting good time.

Now I'll get back to creating new memories and focus on what I have with special people in my life, and live life with purpose.

The past is the past - only look back if you're driving and checking traffic in a rear vision mirror.

Till next post, it's time for a flat white with soy 😀

Highly Commended Award

Brace yourselves people, here's a little photography self-promotion coming your way.

I've been plugging away at photography for a while and have come within a hairsbreadth to giving it away. I mean, how many rejection letters can one take and before the ROE aligns with the ROI?

Never mind, I take responsibility for my actions or lack thereof. I'm passionate about photography so giving up was always an idle threat.

And happy I persevered. I was recently awarded a Highly Commended Award from the Snap Happy TV on 10 Bold, for one of my Brisbane fog shots - such a thrill and honour - thank you, thank you.

When I entered this competition, I chose my photo (similar to the one below), wrote a short summary, hit send and concentrated on the next thing.

Foggy August  morning in Brisbane

Then the unexpected happened and I received a Highly Commended Award.

Keep at it folks, you never know when your efforts will come home to roost.

Till next post - go for gold I say, now it's time for a flat white with soy 👍

Cheers,

M 📷⛾