Appreciating the path that you walk.

A song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-1u8xvk54

I played a new game this week. Titled "Life Is Strange" it's a game that revolves around making decisions to see how they impact the lead character's life. This, along with the ability to rewind time a small degree got me thinking a lot about how much could and would change if that was a reality.

If, right now, you discovered you had the ability to rewind time, how much would you change? 

We ponder, we dream, we wish and we hope. So many times we've done things we wish we hadn't and we wish we could undo and it's always fascinating to wonder how different things would be if we'd made a different decision at any one point in our lives. 

It's sometimes hard to step back and appreciate exactly what we have when there's still so much we can look back on and regret and I envy those that have mastered the ability not to dwell on the past. We've all screwed up, we've all made mistakes but they've all resulted in the exact situation you are currently sat in and whether that is a good situation or a bad one, there's comfort in knowing that the decisions you make every single day can change your situation.

The regrets we latch on to can very often overshadow the things we have accomplished, as small as they may be. Regret is important and we need it to learn, we need to move forward knowing the reactions a particular action can induce or we may never move forward successfully.

Being realistic for a brief moment, we can't rewind time. We can't change was has already happened and instead we need to remind ourselves of where we are and how we got here. We forget the people that have gotten us here, we did what we needed to and we pushed ourselves but it'd be nigh on impossible without the people around us. Family, friends, lovers. All of these come and go, even family to some degree but a lot of these are also extremely constant.

We all have friends that we've lost, we've had people we drifted from and would barely recognise anymore, we've had people that we've pushed away and we may regret doing so but we learn from these people, even if they aren't a part of our lives anymore, we learned from them and they've contributed to the person we are today. 

The other side of that is the people we know we can never really lose because we can call up after 4 months of silence and pick up from the last place we left off. The ones that have made us laugh so hard we couldn't breathe and the ones on whom we've unloaded our major burdens. I find it impossible to even consider how different my life would be without certain people in it and I think in some odd way, if a person has really contributed to a part of your life, they become a part of you and as a result, you can't ever forget them. 

As I write this, I find myself reminiscing about so many wonderful memories that I hope that I'll hold on to forever. What always baffles me is how many of these memories are made with new people. It goes to show how a person could walk in and change your life at any point. We meet so many wonderful people all of the time. I have memories of incredible conversations I've had with a person that I'll probably never see again and that conversation has had such an impact. 

It's certainly important to mention that friends aren't even remotely the only people to thank for the people we become. Family are possibly the most undervalued people in our lives. I could write a book on the intense love and appreciation I have for my mother in particular and we often forget to show how much we appreciate our parents and guardians for helping us become the best versions of ourselves. This may not apply to everyone, for some people it isn't parents at all, its siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles. Regardless of the family member it is, the love we have for them is so deeply rooted that you'd think we would aim to appreciate them slightly more and yet we don't, we don't at all. 

Life is a long, wild and arduous path and one that we forget to appreciate. We forget to appreciate the people that do so much for us and contribute so much to our lives. We take so much for granted and focus far too much on the things we need to change. It takes an awful lot to just thank someone for their contribution to your life. It's all fine and dandy tagging them in a "bff's for -- years, love you!" post but taking the time to actually appreciate someone is a whole different kettle of fish. Take them out for coffee, treat someone you care about just because you want to appreciate that they've helped you become who you are. It's important not to lose touch with people that contribute so much to you.

Life's path, aside from the people we meet, involves one hell of a lot of difficult decisions. There are so many times we do things we don't want to do, so many risks we take for such little reward. We underestimate the impact these things have on our lives and the lives of others (see Chaos Theory) and more often that not, it's good to look back at the decisions we've made, and the risks we've taken, in order to truly appreciate everything around us. 

We're alive, we're healthy, we're fed a constant stream of bad news and yet somehow keep finding the will to put one foot in front of the other. We keep trundling along and finding our way, we bump into new people, we fall into new experiences and we constantly learn new things about ourselves. We forget to appreciate everything we put ourselves through mentally and physically because we're focusing so much on getting where we need to be.

It's a bloody hard road, but there are important people surrounding us all the time. People that we forget to appreciate, people including ourselves. Don't forget to stop walking down your path sometimes, don't forget that it's important to sometimes stop and admire the wonderful people around you, the wonderful memories you've made, and how far you've come since in the past 5 years for example. 

We can never predict what'll happen in the future, but one thing is for sure, there's always time to stop and remember the memories you've made and the people you know. You are who you are because of the things you've done and the people you've met and that will continue to happen. 

So, to the brilliant people in my life who have always remained; 
To those people who through all amounts of change and through all lack of contact have always been there; 
To the people who have always reminded me who I am and have pushed me to be who I always doubted I could be; 
To those people who, despite knowing me a short amount of time, have somehow had the greatest impact on my life;
To the people I have loved and lost, but whom I will always appreciate the lessons they have taught me;

thank you.