I’m reading right now The Corrupted Chalicea fantasy crime novel.
Think “Sherlock Holmes takes place in Westeros.”
The main character has this augmentation that allows him to capture every single detail of every interaction and crime scene and replay those exact details at a later time.
I remember something terrible Black mirror This episode is about exactly that: being able to remember every fact of every interaction in the past.
The thing is: In all of these scenarios, the facts may be true, but analyzing those facts still leaves a lot of room for improvement.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently when I came across two stories I’d like to share:
“The past is not true” by Derek Sivers:
When I was 17, I was driving recklessly and crashed into an oncoming car. I found out I broke the other driver’s back and she’ll never walk again.
I carried this burden with me everywhere and felt so terrible about it for many years that at age 35 I decided to find this woman to apologize. I found her name and address, went to her house, knocked on the door and a middle-aged woman answered. As soon as I said, “I’m the teenager who hit your car and broke your spine eighteen years ago,” I started sobbing – a big, ugly cry that brought out years of regret.
She was so sweet and hugged me saying, “Oh sweetie, sweetie! Don’t worry. I’m fine!” Then she led me into her living room. Left.
Turns out I misunderstood.
Yes, she broke a few vertebrae, but that never stopped her from walking. She said “that little accident” helped her pay more attention to her fitness and has been in better health than ever since.
Then she apologized because he caused the accident in the first place. Sorry.
And that Story about “the good old days” by author Morgan Housel:
A few months ago, I was reminding my wife how great life was in our early twenties. We were 23 years old, working and living in our version of the Taj Mahal. This was before kids, so on weekends we slept until 10 a.m., went for walks, had brunch, took naps, and went out to dinner. That was our life. For years.
“That was living at the highest level, as good as it gets,” I told her.
“What are you talking about?” she said. “They were more anxious, more frightened and probably more depressed then than ever before.”
…In my head I look back now and think, ‘I must have been so happy back then.’ Those were my best years.”
But in reality, what I was thinking at the time was, “I can’t wait for these years to end.”
I think a lot about the past and our future. Turns out none of these are set in stone!
What past history can you rewrite?
As the cliché goes, it’s easier to see the connections in retrospect than in advance.
Is there a story from your past about a particular moment that you still carry with you?
Maybe it’s full of shame about something that happened, but it led to something even better for you.
Maybe it’s the longing for a previous life that never actually existed.
The past has already happened, but that doesn’t mean it’s set in stone!
Back to Sivers:
“You can change your story.
The actual events only make up a small part of it. Everything else is perspective, open to reinterpretation.
The past is never over.”
I would like to know what story do you tell yourself about the past, good or bad, that you would like to rewrite?
-Steve
###
