We Don’t Belong in the Past

We often hold on too tightly to the question: “Why did things unfold this way?” as if revisiting the exact moment when something broke could somehow fix it. But the truth is -it can’t. Yesterday is already a closed chapter. It may still carry the scent of longing or the traces of our tears, but it remains what it is: a story that ended. It doesn’t need to be rewritten, only understood. And that is enough.

We spend countless hours searching for meaning in what has already passed. We look for people who once fit into our world, as if their return could bring back a version of ourselves that no longer exists either. We revisit memories, old words, familiar places, forgetting that those we seek may have changed-and most likely, so have we.

The danger is that while we are busy rearranging the past, we neglect the present. We forget that what is in front of us can vanish just as easily as what we lost. The present is not a hallway between “what was” and “what may come.” It is the only room we truly live in. Yet, how often do we leave that room empty while we wander in old houses that no longer belong to us?

The past has its own power. It can feel comforting, even when it hurts. Pain becomes familiar, and familiarity feels safe. That’s why some people live in their memories longer than they should. It feels easier to relive a story, even one that ended badly, than to face the uncertainty of a blank page. But life is not meant to be reread endlessly like a novel. It is meant to be written, word by word, today.

Tomorrow is not promised. The future is just a possibility. The past is nothing more than an ending we keep rereading, hoping the words might somehow change -but they never do. In a world that is always moving forward, our only real power lies in choice: to keep staring at what is gone or to fully live what remains.

And yes, it takes courage -to close the chapter, to say “I’ve learned” without adding “but what if…” It takes strength to keep walking without waiting for footsteps that will never follow. The past can teach us, but it is not meant to be our home. We don’t belong there.

We belong here. Now.

Every sunrise gives us the chance to choose differently. Every conversation we have today, every act of kindness, every laugh, and even every tear that belongs to this moment is infinitely more valuable than the most perfect day that has already passed. Because no matter how beautiful or painful it was, yesterday cannot be lived again.

When we finally accept this, life feels lighter. The load of carrying old stories, old loves, and old regrets begins to fall away. We start to see that maybe those endings were not punishments, but invitations-to grow, to rebuild, to walk toward something new.

The past will always whisper. Sometimes it will sound like nostalgia, sometimes like regret. But the present has a stronger voice, if only we learn to listen. And once we do, we realize that all we really need is already here: in this breath, in this moment, in this life that is still unfolding.

Because we don’t belong in the past.

We belong here.

Here is where life waits for us—with all its uncertainty, all its beauty, all its risks. Here is where we can create something that has never existed before. And if we dare to stay present, then “here” becomes more than just a place-it becomes our true beginning.