I have a bit of an addiction to inspirational quotes.

I like writing my own words, but finding just the right ones already put together into a big “a-ha” is also super fun.

I have Pinterest boards full of them. It’s kind of interesting to look at them in chronological order and remember what my frame of mind was when I picked them out. Who I was thinking of. Whether I was trending toward heartbreak or blazing optimism.

One repeating theme pinned all over there is this idea (illustrated above with a few of my favorites) of letting go. Accepting the past and moving forward.

I am not a grudge holder. Also not much of a regretter. I am fairly proud of myself for not letting the negative take up residence in my head. I’d prefer to conserve my mental and emotional energy for events of the present.

I’d prefer to focus on the half of the glass that’s still full instead of the other half that is spilled all over the floor.

Because of this I have to honestly say that there is nothing (really, I’ve been wracking my brain all day – guess what my writing assignment was) that I haven’t forgiven myself for.

A lot of fashion choices in the 80s. And that perm.

But as far as serious stuff, I can’t think of anything that I am holding onto guilt about.

Might I have done things differently if I could time travel back? Maybe.

But having seen Back to the Future a number of times, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to risk changing anything back then lest it result in changing something now.

Could I have done better in past relationships? Probably.

Am I holding onto that? No.

Could I have done something to be more financially successful now? Probably.

Paying closer attention in Finance class might have paid off – literally.

Am I mad about it? Not a bit.

Should I have been more patient with tiny children and let them do more things independently? Maybe.

But they still have all of their fingers and are able to feed and dress themselves so it’s all good.

I have a twinge of regret that I didn’t have one more kid. But it’s not something that keeps me up at night.

I know it seems like I must be repressing something massive. Or just slapping on some Don’t Worry Be Happy kind of facade.

But really – given that I ended up (so far anyway) in a pretty darn good place I am not spending any energy trying to post-game analyze my performance to see what went wrong.

I’m saving up my attention for important things like remembering to make a dentist appointment and buy milk. And appreciating where I’ve ended up, and focusing on where I’m going next.

And Googling stuff like this (you’re welcome):

*I’m participating in Write Yourself Alive – a 30 day online writing program – I’ll be responding to the daily prompts here. To respect the program I won’t actually say what the prompt is, so bear with me – this could be pretty random :)