The past is the past, we shouldn’t dwell on it.

It is surely one of the things that torment human beings the most: what may have happened to them in the past.

There are often too many negative emotions building up in our mind because of the way we deal with the things that happened to us in the past: regrets, shame or whatever.

One of the common teachings of Buddhism, Stoicism and other philosophies, which I think is super true, is that: The past is the past. It's done, you cannot change it, so there is no point in dwelling on it.

Of course, there may have been very difficult past events, such as childhood traumas, which need to be dealt with in a particular way. That's not what this post is about.

But this teaching applies to almost everything else.

Whether you made a mistake with someone, didn't choose the right career path when you were 20, or made a mistake you're ashamed of… it is just the way it is. You can't go back in time and change it.

What you can do, however, is to change your perception of these mistakes, correct them and learn from them, so that you can grow and move forward even better in life.

As we say, it's in the mistakes that we learn the most. To try and make a mistake is to "fail" once at a given moment, but if you learn from it and keep your head up, you'll become even better for the rest of your life.

What's more, when it comes to silly things, most people aren't that judgmental and will quickly forget what you've done. You can do something weird in the metro, tomorrow, 99% of the people who saw you will have forgotten you.

Finally, if it's a mistake in the path you took, life is well made, the different points always come together. The studies or job you chose in your twenties won't stop you from changing direction, will have taught you things that will surely be useful to you at some point in your life, and will make your profile unique.

So, we shouldn’t dwell on the past, it won't change anything and will only fill our thoughts with negativity.

Ideally, we should learn from it, we can write it down, and then move on, move forward, because we can always correct the trajectory we are on, and because it's only in the present that we have the power to act.