Today I really discovered something revolutionary and healthy for the depressed mind and soul.  I was thinking about all the times that I had regretted not doing something and wished I had.  Even small things like, 'Why didn't you smile at that old lady who walked by?' or something as big as, 'Why didn't you say good-bye?'  With that I compared my regrets to somebody I truly admired.  Somebody that I felt was what I always dreamt of being.  In that comparison I realised that the past is a tortuous and evil presence.  A state of mind comes over you and takes over the thinking path that you once followed.  Your thoughts start to roll towards pessimism and hatred and guilt.  You look at others who are doing good and wish bad or at least wish that they had what you did and you had what they had.  The future brings a brighter light to one's mind.  You always hear people saying, 'Look to the future,' or, 'You could do that!  You're not dead yet!'  This does not just go for those that are young, but for those young at heart, too. 'Why not make the future what you wished of the past so that when you look back again satisfaction is cast?'  This is a quote I have created so that I can use  in order to pep myself up when I start to back out of something.  It works, too!  Instead of letting depression (also known as the past) take over you and you succumbing to its wicked ways, why don't you make the future what you wish you could look back on and be happy about?  Say that you really wanted to get into painting since you were a little boy or girl but your parents never recognised a noticeable talent and therefore never supplied you with classes, lessons, or even supplies, but you wanted to be a great painter ... and by the age of twenty-one.  Now you are an accomplished (or unaccomplished) house-wife or stay-at-home-dad at the age of thirty-two and haven't painted since six months ago when your three-year-old bought their first set of paints and you decided to 'play with them'.  Are you dead?  Is something so amazingly important that you can't paint once a day or week?  Is your partner so involved with themselves or uninvolved with you, or even just so snotty that you're too uncomfortable to say, 'Honey, when you come home for the weekend, I'd like to take a class up at the local community college every Saturday for art.'  God only knows what your passion for painting might bring about.  You could be the next Michelangelo, or you could be the next person the art teacher absolutely hates looking at their work.  Either way you took at least ONE step and can say you tried.  Trying is half of the fun because it's practically the whole trip.  And you know how people say that 'The journey to success is always more fun than success itself.'  Maybe you could look at it this way: would you rather look back in twenty or thirty years and regret not even taking classes (by the way, you could even bring along some older children with you or your partner could come to for support and fun if you dread leaving their side) or would you rather be able to look back even fifty years from now and say that you tried, and whether or not you made it, you tried and you can't say that you didn't.  The worse punishment you can give to yourself is the unknown and not trying is the unknown.  You don't know what could've happened. So now maybe it is time for you to start thinking of ways to help yourself ... well, help yourself.  Unfortunately, some people are completely unaware and oblivious on the importance and vitality that something is to somebody... even if it is your mother, father, spouse, child.  Some people are just unaware so you either need to make them more than 100% aware but you need to help yourself.  Once they see you helping yourself, they will want to kick in too and try to help mummy, daddy, son, daughter, or whoever be as good at what they love as they can be.  Think of this: at Christmas and your birthday, do you not get gifts in relation to a sport, hobby, passion that you have? I would like to leave you thinking about that and keep thinking.  Make your own decisions and further on what I've taught you.  It's a good lesson I have learned and am very eagre to share with you.

(This article was inspired by the poem 'Make the Future' by Brittany Renee)

This article is (c) 2003 Brittany Renee.  All rights reserved.  No portion of this article may be reproduced without express permission from the author in hand written form.  Excerpts are prohibited.