Tag: past

If I Could Change My Past, Would I?

What advice would you give to your teenage self?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been wondering about what I would do if I had a time machine and could go back in time. It’s quite an interesting question to give yourself. Would you tell yourself what’s coming? Would you not tell yourself, knowing that what’s coming could be good or bad? Would you go back at all?

I’m 31, and while I’m not exactly old, I’ve lived a bit. I’ve done things I’m proud of, I’ve done things I’m not proud of. I’ve done things I’d love to relive, I’ve done things I’d wish to forget. I’ve had my regrets. I’ve overcome those regrets. I’ve lived my life, and I’ve played it safe.

So, if I had a time machine, would I go back in time? The short answer: yes.

What advice would I give myself? That’s a hard question to answer. I don’t think there’s any one answer to that question. I wouldn’t tell myself everything to come. That would ruin the fun. But if I could say only one thing, it would be this, “While life may be difficult and it might suck, it will always get better. The rough times don’t last, and the good memories will always outweigh the bad.”

I wouldn’t change my past or try to warn myself of what’s to come. The reason I am who I am is because of the life I’ve lived. And as much as I’d like to live a different life, I don’t think I ever could. To live a different life would mean that I’m no longer me. I’d be a variation of me.

I’m proud of who I am and what I’ve done to get here. Life isn’t always rainbows and sunshine. As long as we make the best of the time we have, that’s something to be proud of. Nothing will ever be truly perfect, but we can make moments perfect for a short time.

I Am Who I Am

I’ve been reflecting lately. On 2021. On my life. On the things I’ve done and haven’t done. Not in a bad way. More like a reflection of my past to better understand the present and the future.

It’s weird. Because from the time I turned 18 until I was in my late 20s, I sort of struggled with who I was. I didn’t know what career I wanted. I didn’t fully know who I was as a person. I didn’t know if I had any skills that were worth anything. I wasn’t necessarily a mess, it was just a decade of discovery for me.

The weird thing is, once I hit 30, all of that kind of changed. Well, most of it. Ok, only some of it. I discovered who I was in my late 20s. The person I am, my values and traits, that was all locked in. But something kind of funny happened. Something I didn’t expect. I stopped caring.

What do I mean by that? It’s simple. I stopped giving a shit about what other people thought of me. Last year I read a book called The Subtle Art of not Giving a F*ck. It was a great read and I recommend it to everyone. After reading that book, I was left speechless. I realized that I put way too much effort into things I couldn’t control. About a year later, I finally started taking the advice from the book.

We can’t control everything. We can’t control how people view us. We can’t control what they think of us. We can’t control what they say about us either. But we can control how we react to things. And once I hit 30, I literally decided that people’s opinions of me didn’t matter anymore. If they talk trash about me, that doesn’t matter either. I know who I am and I’m not changing for anyone. I know I can’t control what people say about me, but I can control how I react. And how will I react? I’ll act like I don’t don’t care anymore because I don’t.

Time Travel

I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of time travel. Going forward in time. Going backward in time. Meeting our heroes. Visiting with loved ones we miss. But the question arises. Even if we could, should we? Should we put ourselves into a situation where we could vastly alter our past or even our future?

While it isn’t certain whether or not we can travel through time, we have several reasons not to. We have countless movies that show us what could go wrong. Back to the Future shows us what could go wrong if those from the future return to visit themselves in the past. Timeless is a good example of how changing the past can affect the future. It still stands as one of my favorite TV shows, but when you mess with time, time messes back.

The music video for “Another World” by Gojira gives us a chilling look into what the future could hold. This is, of course, assuming we don’t change our current ways. And while we may not be thinking hundreds of years ahead, we need to. Because without today, tomorrow doesn’t exist.

However, there is a very basic way we can travel through time. It comes in the form of music. There are songs that takes us back to a certain time and place when we hear them. They remind us of people, places, events, vacations, the list goes on. And while we can’t exactly travel back to that time, for a few minutes, we do return to that time and we get a chance to relive it. Maybe even a little different than before.

My brain has a tendency to wander. I’m constantly thinking about new projects without finishing old ones. I have so many stories I want to write. So many comics I need to finish. Short films to write and film. The list goes on and on. But one of the things I haven’t gotten to yet is a story about time travel. I’ve always wanted to do one and I plan on doing it one day.

I did try writing a story in which the main character was following the clues left behind from Bonnie and Clyde in order to find a treasure. I never finished the story. And the middle got stale and boring. I’m not even sure I still have it. But in the original idea, the main character was going to travel back in time. When I couldn’t figure out how to make that happen, I scrapped the time travel aspect. But that’s a story for another post.

While time travel would be cool, I think it’s wise to not travel through time. Even if we could, I’d never go to the future. To see how things turn out would destroy our idea of the present. But to go back in time, that’s something I’ve often thought about. Seeing historical figures of the past. Hanging out with all these famous people before they were famous. As a history geek that idea excites me. As a rational human, I’d be concerned about getting stuck in the past. And while we can’t exactly travel through time yet, the idea excites me and scares me at the same time.