Moving on from the past is easier said than done.

                       The past is something that is something that is supposed to be forgotten. We know that it cannot be changed, that it's over with; that we'll never experience that exact moment again. Teenagers talk a lot about "living without regrets". It's thrown around so frequently that it might as well be our motto. I think everyone enjoys the idea of having no regrets and moving on from the past, more than actually to live like that. Actually doing it, is a little more difficult then some retweeting a quote, posting a facebook status, or having a conversation with your friends.
                       As many times as I've told myself "It's over, forget about it.", when mentally reliving my tough moments, it is so hard to completely shut them out of your mind. I feel like I'm always carrying those experiences with me. I feel like my brain is subconsciously convinced that I'm going to have to relive them, or that I need to remember how they felt. Maybe it's so I can understand if I've made any progression since them. Maybe it's because I feel like, as much as I despise them, those moments are still a part of me. At least for now. The past just feels like a constant presence. It is so hard to fully understand the beauty, and the torture of the past being over. It is such a struggle for us to let go, and realize that those negative occurrences are never happening again. They do not define who we are. They do not have to be carried with us into our future.
               I think that the reason it seems almost impossible to let go,is because we are still attached to where all of our bad memories derive from. Our town, our school, our home? I'm not saying these places are constantly bringing on troubling feelings, I'm just saying that until we are given the opportunity to have a clean slate, breaking away from our past will continue to be a challenging task.
             Although we may not want them to, certain moments are going to stay with us forever. The ones that may have seemed like the end of the world when they were occurring, will probably fall away naturally. In the end, everything that sticks with us is there for a reason.
                    
           Be not the slave of your own past. -Ralph Waldo Emerson