Sometimes we make mistakes so big that our lives are changed forever. We sit in a corner thinking how we can be so wrong. We lie on our beds awake in the middle of the night regretting the mistakes that we have done. Sadly, we also know that no matter how hard we blame ourselves and think how we could have done things differently, we can never go back and change anything. What’s done is done and we have to suffer the consequences of our actions.
I remember a few years ago when I got my girlfriend pregnant. It was probably the biggest life-changing event that occurred in my life. I was the only child of a deaf and mute father and a simple housewife, and we were practically under the care of the rest of the extended family so expectations on me were high. They were sending me to Nursing school and I was doing quite well. I didn’t have to worry about my future because we had a plan, they had a very good plan for me.
Long story short, getting my girlfriend pregnant set off a chain of events that led me t0 quitting school and to set off looking for a job, any job just to get by. I remember the days when me and my girlfriend would face each other and worry how we’ll make it through the next day, and how we would raise our child. Those were days when we were happy if we could afford to buy instant noodles, or if we could just take a walk around town and buy a small bag of peanuts. Life became extremely difficult, and there were a number of times when things became unbearable and I did crazy things that again added to the list of my regrets.
Flash forward six years later to the present and I now have a decent job. Again, long story short, I was given a second chance. It wasn’t easy, but it was all I had so I pushed on through. It’s not much, but at least I can get by and I can send my little girl, who turned out to be an extremely cute and smart, to a nice school. I can now afford to get a few things for myself that I never even thought I could ever afford to get six years ago.
I sometimes wonder how things could have ended up if I successfully killed myself years ago. I sometimes wonder where I would be if I gave up on myself. Where would my little girl be now if I didn’t make a number of difficult choices and made a few sacrifices?
I guess one of the most important lessons I have learned from my experiences is that there’s always a new beginning. Sure, we may have screwed things up for ourselves big time, but we can always have a fresh start if we choose to take a shot at it. Of course it may not be as good and easy as it would have been if we didn’t screw up, but it’s better than having nothing.
I guess to sum it all into a few sentences:
We can never change the past. We can’t really foresee the future. All we have is the present and along with it is an idea of how things could be if we do what we think is right.
By the way, this article has a back story. I was having trouble deciding if the back story should come first but then I thought that maybe the main article should come first. Anyways, here’s the story of how this article came to be…
I was looking around a few days ago for interesting reads when I came across an article entitled Reigniting the Passion from Kylie De Waard. I read through and realized that I have been on that spot not too long ago, and I eventually realized that I shouldn’t work too hard on trying to impress people, but what I should do is to be myself. You can read through my article How To Write Interesting Blog Posts for the details of how I came to that realization.
Anyways, if you’ve been reading through my stuff, you might have noticed that some of the pictures I use are from Wikipedia/Wikimedia, while some are from my cousins AJ Fernando and Jenny Garcia. I mean it’s all okay, but I always thought that I could use a little help from a pro photographer so there, I approached Kylie, asking if we could do a collaboration and thankfully she responded well and she did give me a photo.
I don’t know what inspired Kylie for this photo, but the message a got form the photo is “There’s always a new beginning”. The water droplets on the plant reminded me of how things looked like in a foggy morning or after a rainy day, plus the bug climbing up one of the stems gave me the impression that the bug has made it’s way there climbing up from the bottom after being washed down by the rain, or something like that. I guess that’s the beauty of art. People can always get a different meaning/message from a single piece. Kylie, would you mind telling me the message you thought of in this picture of yours?
Thank You For Reading!
I’m trying to come up with this style of featuring a theme photo at the beginning and a theme song at the end of my articles to make things more interesting(I hope) so here’s a song from Aerosmith entitled Fly Away From Here:
Well said. Happy to provide you with some of the inspiration for this post
As for the actual story behind the photo, it was a completely accidental capture. I was out taking some photos of the rain drops and I didn’t even see that little critter there until I uploaded the pic to my computer. But I’m so glad I captured it. It makes the photo. Thank- you for for the collaboration. I think it was a great idea.
Awesome photo Kylie. Thanks very much for allowing it to be used on this post. Hope to see more of your work on here!
Thanks
haha thanks for allowing me to use your photo too!got any more?
Wow – if I had a buck for each time I’ve had to start over…
Another great post. Poignant and inspirational. I very often wonder if, with the knowledge I have today, I’d avoid the mistakes I’ve made up till now. I’m glad to say that recently my answer has been that no, I like the person I’m becoming, so I’d make those same mistakes to wind up here. I’m very grateful for the life I have and the people in it. Perhaps that was the lesson all along.
a very good insight there!
“We can never change the past. We can’t really foresee the future. All we have is the present and along with it is an idea of how things could be if we do what we think is right.” What a great statement! I’m glad you’re here, too, and especially glad that things turned around. Sounds like you’re a great father.
i hope i am. the only person who can really tell is my little girl.i hope she thinks that i’m a good father…