Hashtag Moving Forward

This might be a shorter one, but there's a few things I feel that I really need to say.

Let me start by saying this: I know what my past was like, and while I have fond memories, there are a lot of things I don't want to repeat. When we make mistakes, we learn from them--and we all make mistakes. Even I, who at one time probably thought I knew everything about the world, make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. And I'm coming to realize that I actually don't know that much at all. I've been known lately to not be one-hundred-percent definitive in my answers even if I know for a fact that something is true. And if I do say something definite, there are usually caveats or qualifications which soon follow. Kind of like what I did right there.

As a further caveat, I'd like to say this: once you have moved forward, I find it is actually very difficult to move backwards and do the same things again. It's kind of like that debate about time travel--if I could go back in time to a specific point in my timeline, and not know anything I didn't already know at the time, I would make the same decision, because nothing about the situation had changed. It's only when I go back after having learned something new that I can react differently to the same situation and make the outcome better. Of course, we can't do time travel (not backwards, at least), but when we revisit a place or a person we can have a different, improved view or reaction to it/them.

I'm going to go to a video game example because I'm a game designer and I just like doing that. As you might already know, I've been playing the remake of Wind Waker for Wii U a lot lately, and I'm really liking it. Wind Waker was my favorite Zelda, and now this revised version definitely trumps it. Even revisiting the same islands, most of which are exactly the same, I feel like I'm having more fun, mostly because of the new mechanics. The swift sail lets me get to islands quicker, which means less idle time, and the fact that the pictobox holds twelve pictures instead of three makes figurine hunting a ton of fun because I don't have to drop what I'm doing after I take just three pictures. It's the same concept, but it's being done better, which makes it worth replaying, in my opinion (honestly, though, guys... Nintendo isn't paying me to sell more copies of their game. I just really like it). When games get revamped like this, I appreciate it, because it makes me go back to the game with a better attitude. "It seems like it's been improved." Even if it's only an update, improvements make you come out of similar situations with a better attitude than you had the first time.

I'd like to think that lessons we learn from games can be applied to real life, and vice versa. I truly believe that--given you've learned from your past--there is no way to go but forward. If you are truly afraid to go backward, then you know enough to not let yourself do so. You know what got you in trouble the last time and what to do differently this time. You can decide that, if the circumstances are different--if you're different--you can make a change for the better. And I encourage you all to make that change.

It doesn't matter what the change is. Whether you've gained respect for someone or something, or you see something in a different light, respond to it. If you really love to play a certain game, don't give up on it. Learn from the mistakes you made, beat your high score over and over, and do what you love. All that matters in life is making it a good one--so go out and make your life a good one.