When we look to the past we learn about the people that we were, and we see the people we are becoming all the more clearly.

Circa. 2013. J R Manawa.

Here is my revelation; the past is irrelevant. It has already been and gone and nothing that happened there can be changed, it can only shape you into a wiser and more intelligent creature than yesterday. The future is a horrible place full of dreams and goals and nightmares, and the fear of what life will be like if I don’t get what I want. But where I am right now today – it is good. Mostly because I am in control and partially because I can see things as they are happening – I am not looking back and wishing, nor looking forward and dreaming. And this unique point of view will only last for today, so I had better make the most of it.

Here and now. 2016. J R Manawa.

Well, my revelation held true in some aspects. We should all realise that we are not defined by the past. And yes the future is a terrifying place, such that we should all live in the moment, 100%. But what is the point of living in the moment if you are not pushing toward the future? If you do not ask, you will not be given. If you do not dream, you will not set goals, and if you do not set goals, you will not achieve. At the time in my life that I wrote those words above I was bowing out of the romance and beauty of my passion for the world around me and for the gothic-heart, telling myself to accept the status-quo and learn to live with what had been handed to me.

Funny that it was only a few months later my whole chaotic and beautiful world was shaken upside down. Never be satisfied with the status-quo, and never tell yourself that you should be happy with the status-quo and accept what you’ve been given. You don’t have to do that! Don’t become a person who does not receive because you do not ask, because you do not push toward the dreams you have. So yes, yes, today is EVERYTHING, because it is paving the way for TOMORROW.

And tomorrow, you will change the world.