There is an old lesson of nature that points out that a lobster sheds its shell several times a year so it can continue to grow. The analogy of the lesson is that we too must shed our past if we are to continue to grow.

If we hold on to our past we impede our own growth going into the future. Letting go of the past isn’t all that easy because it is familiar territory for us. It’s easy to live in the past because that’s where all are experience is. The future doesn’t start til tomorrow, but yesterday is still fresh in our heart and mind. We can live in the past by constantly thinking about things in our past. We also live in the past when we find ourselves talking up some accomplishment of ours from yesteryear.

I have a friend who was telling me about a guy he played baseball with in High School, forty-five years ago. The guy was an exceptional athlete and an award winning baseball player at their High School, forty-five years ago. Today, his social media pages are flooded with obscure photos from decades ago when he played baseball in High School. I don’t think there is anything wrong with keeping your glory days alive, but we must stop living in our past before we can start succeeding in the present.

There is nothing wrong with having memories from the past or even being proud of past accomplishments, but it’s just not healthy to stay there. Our goal should be to live in the present and enjoy life now. Not the past or the future but now. When we live life in the now we allow ourselves to enjoy where we are and with who we are with.

Living in your past will cripple your ability to focus on the current tasks and it will add undue stress on you as you try to duplicate or relive the feelings and recognition that you harbor in your heart from those glory days. Each day has enough stress of its own.