Charlie Magdaleno: Blog

  Today I had the opportunity to visit with my family and I spent a good portion of the evening talking with my mom and watching "17 Again."  For those who haven't seen it, it's essentially "Big", except reversed (protagonist is an adult turned into a current-day adolescent instead of the other way around), thrown together with elements from "Back to the Future" and, believe it or not, "High School Musical."  In any case, after watching the film, I realized how much I had in common with the main character (the pessimistic, whiny Matthew Perry version, not the charismatic, six-packed Zac Efron version).  

  For quite some time now, even at my young age, I have been wishing I could just call a "mulligan" on my life and start over.  I think that, if given the opportunity, I would do nearly everything different.  There have been so many mistakes, so many wasted and missed opportunities, and so many people hurt by my embarrassing stumble through life up to this point.  Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been all bad, by ANY means, but that's the point.  

  There are so many things and people that I have been taking for granted in my life up until now as I've continued to replay the past in my head, creating an "improved" present and future; when in reality, I could be spending my time and energy simply improving the present I've created for myself and developing that into the future I've dreamed of.

  Perhaps you've been in the same boat as I've been, and I urge you to join me in making the best attempt to turn away from the port we've left behind, assess our current vessel and plot a new course to a brighter future.

  Sailing metaphors (or analogies, whatever) aside, the simple fact of the matter is that if we keep looking back instead of living in the moment and making the most of the time we have in front of us, we're only setting ourselves up to being 10 years older, looking back on 10 more years of mistakes, missed and wasted opportunities, and hurt loved ones.

We are blessed with detailed and extensive knowledge of our own histories, which means we don't have to doom ourselves to repeat them.

I hope this week's short-but-ideally-sweet post has given you something to think about and maybe even something you can build a new phase of your life on.

Thanks for reading,

Charlie