Every step taken is important, no matter how small, on the road to victory.

Though life is only finite at best, most don’t know how much time they have. Some strive to add to their clock, live longer and enjoy more of what life has to offer. Others use their time to create and enrich life itself. And still others go on because they must, for there is a need greater than their own. But everyone is trying, in their own way.

What makes this tricky is that, as one lives and the clock ticks ever forward, effort is prone to slip from the road. Actions are ignored, words go unsaid, feelings are forgotten. That is why looking back can be so daunting, as there is much to unfold but so little to hold. It’s already been done, but does that make it absolute? It sure seems that way when one thinks of “everything that already happened” and not “what just happened”. A vague passage of time, how could one remember all of it? What is one memory, measured against the endless record of history?

Ironically, this is where looking back finds its greatest worth. Memories. It has happened, but how well do we remember? How can we take from this past and bring it with us, if it has already slipped away? An effort to remember, to walk back unto history and recall what we have forgotten, risks tainting the memory. Yet, how can we know if we don’t try? Forward is a direction, but steps are motion. We determine what “forward” means and the effort we make will carry us. Sometimes, looking back is the “forward” that a life needs. And the memory can guide the steps.

Of course, retracing one’s steps cannot guide them to new experiences, brighter days on the horizon, when the night of history blankets the road. And the further we go, the harder it is to turn back. Retracing from what is already being retraced sounds wasteful, doesn’t it? Is the memory worth this wasteful effort? For some, it absolutely is. Others might not realize it’s not until they are deep in the night, new insight in the old earth. Knowledge and experience, always valuable.

Even if the past hurts, old wounds reopened and tears shed anew, don’t be afraid to remind yourself of what matters. But do not stay in the night too long, lest the pain of regret take hold and strangle the effort you deserve to make. The memory should serve to guide you onward, that your actions in the light to come shine so much brighter. Someday, it will all make sense. Slowly, steadily, you will get there, even if you might falter on the way back.

You are better than this.