One of the best posts I’ve ever seen online said that, thanks to time travel movies, lots of people are familiar with the idea that small changes in the past can radically change the present, but very few people think that small changes in the present can radically change their future. I saw that post right around the time I started getting my life together and it has guided my thinking ever since. And I’ve seen how it has worked to get me much closer to where I want to be in life, so this idea has passed the usefulness test with flying colors.
On the subject of time travel, sometimes I wonder what it’d be like to talk to my future self and see how I turn out. Then I recently started thinking about how my past self would feel if he could see where I’m at now. I think he’d be impressed with how far I’ve come, how well I’ve done with everything that life’s thrown at me, and how much small victories have done to get me where I’m at today. Additionally, I think he’d be in awe of how I’ve learned to manage and, in some cases, even overcome challenges that I’ve faced from a young age.
Knowing that I’ve come a long way from where I used to be and that I can go even further by getting the small details right is very encouraging. Sometimes it’s the only thing that gets me through a rough patch. What also helps is keeping in mind that my journey doesn’t have to be perfectly linear; as long as I’m moving in the right direction more often than not, a few bad days or difficult seasons aren’t going to spell doom. So the next time you’re feeling glum about where you’re at or where you think you’re going, remind yourself how far you’ve come and see what small changes you can make to get closer to where you want to be.