Telling The Whole Story-The Importance of Postive Remembrance

Life has a way of keeping us humble. So often things happen to us that make us wish we could go back in change. And, as human beings, we so often learn by making mistakes and failing. But at what point does self-deprecation and only remembering the painful memories become unhealthy? Modesty can soon turn into a lack of self confidence and positive successes can become suffocated in the midst of too much focus on negative experiences.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to relive some of my old sports memories. Initially all I could think of was the importance pass I missed here, or the bad game I had there. But the person with me forced me to work past those and remember some of the successes and great moments I had as an athlete. I began to realize something. Those failures and mistakes were important to learn from, but they were not the whole story. Behind the ugly faces of those disappointing games and mistakes was a beautiful picture of successful career as an athlete. And it wasn't about all the stats or the scores or the awards, it was about the memories with teammates, the road trips, the quirky plays and the great feelings that came from playing a game that I loved.

When I took the time to wade through the pain that is always present when we first revisit memories of mistakes or failures, when I made the effort to remember the whole story, I realized that my experience was so much more than those brief moments of failure and that those weren't the only moments that had to define my future.

So often we wind up repressing good memories with the bad, losing a beautiful picture of a career or experience.

The challenge, then, is to work past the failures and mistakes, not negating or forgetting them, but seeking to remember the victories and successes as well, breeding a wholeness and confidence that was has been accomplished is worth being proud of.