Moving on from the Past

~ readywriter2016 ~ Leave a comment

The New Year has begun, and it rapidly speeds ahead rather like a fast car.

The problem is if we aren’t careful we drag along the problems of the old year into the new and wonder why we aren’t getting anywhere.

I was speaking to a couple of homes this week.  Homes for ex-drug addicts and ex- alcoholics.  Little did I know this was rather a relevant message for me too.

Last year my 17 year old cat named Angel died.  We had her, and her sister for many years. We bought our cats when they were just tiny little kittens – five weeks old to be precise.  They were too young to be taken away from their mother really, but we bought them from a Pet shop.  Their mother got run over by a car the day after we bought them. Calvin was ginger all over with hazel eyes and Angel was ginger with white paws, which looked like she had little white socks on, and a white bib.  The sister always were unseperable for several years of their life.  Calvin always had thick fluffy fur and Angel’s fur was as smoothy and soft as silk.  Why did we call a girl Calvin you may ask? Well it is because when we bought them we were told we had a boy and a girl, then by the time we realised it was a bit late, so we decided to keep the name.

Both were very different lovable characters.  However to cut a long story short,  Calvin died three years ago and this autumn Angel died too.  I could have had her put down but couldn’t bear the the thought of not having her.  She was on medication from the vet, however the day she died she was gragging her two legs behind her, and I couldn’t get to the vets fast enough as I had to wait an hour or two for an appointment.  We later buried her in our back garden next to her sister.

I remember the day after feeling very sad after having cried almost a whole day.  I went on retail therapy – I bought myself a new jumper and a large packet of pick and mix chocolates and sweets.  By the end of the day I had eaten the lot, I don’t even remember offering my husband one.

Fortunately I gave up smoking and drinking years ago.  But that is how something bad often starts and leads to addiction.  The start of an emotion we find hard to deal with.  It can be the pain of losing a close friend, a family member, or a favourite pet. On the other hand it could be a bad memory of something we are trying to deal with right now.  Comfort eating or other addictions do not heal the problem but rather makes it worse.  For me as a Christian I had to eventually give all my worries and anxieties to God for he cares for me, and will give me peace.

I continued along the line of throwing my diet out of the window, and ate the things I shouldn’t – chocolate and cheese, and most junk foods.  Then Christmas arrived with the tins of biscuits and huge boxes of chocolates from well meaning friends, and we couldn’t waste them, after all we did give some away.  That is how things continued until I had an annual blood test at my doctors surgery.  The tests came back with a bad report, so I need to pull my socks up and get back on my diet, bury my emotions of no more cats, and get some exercise.  We said after our cats died no more pets, so I will have to stroke other people’s pets instead.

We cannot carry all the hinderances from the past to hinder our future.  If we want to speed ahead in 2016 we have to change some of the things in 2015.  We have to move on in life, no matter what it takes.  Maybe a loss needs to be replaced, helping others less fortunate than ourselves is a good place to start too.  There is always a new beginning.  For me I have a few lists of material wants, plans of places to visit, people to see etc. Life goes on in the fast lane.  I remember saying to God once after several close family members died all at once, “can’t you stop the clock for one minute while I stop hurting”, but life zooms on.

Our life on earth is short so making the most of every family member, being a blessing to those I can and living life to the full is so important to me, what about you??