Pride and Prejudice

I just spent the morning playing airplanes with my 1 year old niece.  A cardboard box is no longer a box, but a fighter jet flying through the air at top speed.  Its amazing how our perception of the world, of what is real or important, changes completely with our age and experiences.  Things I cared little for 5 years ago have become the principal focus of my life, whereas decisions from 5 years ago seem trivial at best, and at worst lacking in any direction at all.

The ins and outs, ups and downs of my climbing life will be unknown to most, but its fair to say it has been an interesting ride.  The journey of my life has taken me down roads I would have never expected.  It has not always been an easy path to follow, but with each new experience I have learnt something about myself, about the World, and through it all I have grown.

I’m looking forward to all the new things the future may bring, but occasionally, intermittently little questions and doubts tug at me, reminding me of how differently things could be.  It’s easy to ignore them, and for a good while this was exactly what I did.  Focusing on the bright points in life is so much easier than dwelling on dark moments, but if I have learnt one thing worth holding on to, it’s that doing the difficult and painful things is often necessary if you want to truly move on.

The best medicine doesn’t always taste good, and so it is for this reason that my upcoming months will be devoted somewhat to going back in time, to re-play past events with the experience that I have now, and hopefully lay a few demons to rest.  Whilst I wouldn’t want to change the past, as it is the past that has made me who I am today, it will be interesting to live through decisions I once made with the experience I have today.

They say a fool learns from his mistakes, a wise man learns from others.  Well by that I guess I am still a fool, but hopefully growing a little wiser day by day.