An Examined Life is Best

I was cleaning out some closets today in my house and I happened across a rare treat. I found my old diaries; diaries I'd kept since I was a freshman in high school, all the way until sophomore year in college!

Of course, being the curious glutton that I am, I read them. I wish I hadn't because I am SHOCKED at how vapid I used to be. USED TO BE, BITCHES. ;-)

Anyway, it got me thinking about the past, and how we should reexamine our past in order to proceed into the future. Reading my old diaries, the entries about lost loves, teenage angst, bitchy friends and heartache, reminds me that I have so much to be thankful for. I've grown a lot since those entries were written and I've learned a lot about life and the world. Back when I was a teenage girl, the world was so small and limited, so every little thing became a HUGE deal. But now that the world is wide open and I can go where I want to go and be who I want to be, these little things are really just that: little.

I realized while I was reading the old entries that life is really REALLY good now. I have an excellent job and a fulfilling career, a loving family (not the annoying, oh-why-do-they-torment-me-so, family members that I wrote about in the diaries), and plenty of other great things, things I had taken for granted and taken as a "given" instead of the blessing they are.

So I suppose my point is that it's important that we look back every now and then to remember how good we really have it. So I guess that teenage angst had a purpose after all :-)

Now my question for you, dear friends, is this: Do you ever look back at old diaries or letters? Do you even keep them?
Food for thought, indeed.


Count your blessings friends.
Love,
Nay