“Don’t let the world mess up your soul. Try to be the girl you once were.”

To continue my philosophical train of thought...

When I look at the person I am now versus the person I used to be, I wonder what has changed for the better and what has changed for the worse. There I things I miss about how I used to be, and things I don’t. And there are things I think I should regret and I feel slightly guilty that I don’t anymore. I know regret to be a useless emotion. Guilt has its uses, but regret does not. The past cannot be changed. I often wish there were things I had said or done or hadn’t said or done. Sometimes, too often, I think, I lay awake at night playing the ‘what if’ game. What if I could go back and do it again, knowing what I do now? What would I change? What would I leave the same? Who would I be? I wouldn’t be the same. That I know.

I wonder if that’s what it really means to grow up. Knowing that the experiences you’ve had and the people you’ve known have shaped you, for better or worse, and accepting that. Being content with who you are, but always working toward being someone better.