I'm currently reading Tainted Cupfantasy detective novel.
Think “Sherlock Holmes set in Westeros.”
The main character has this enhancement that allows him to absorb every detail of every interaction, crime scene, and then recite those exact details at a later date.
I remember something terrifying Black mirror an episode devoted to just this thing: being able to recall every fact of every interaction in the past.
The point is that in all of these scenarios the facts may be true, but the analysis of these facts still leaves a lot of work to be done.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately when I came across two stories that I want to share:
"The past is not truefrom Derek Sievers:
When I was 17, I was driving recklessly and hit an oncoming car. I found out that the other driver had broken his spine and would never walk again.
I carried this burden with me everywhere and felt so terrible about it for so many years that at the age of 35 I decided to find this woman to apologize to her. I found her name and address, went to her house, knocked on the door, and a middle-aged woman answered. As soon as I said, "I'm the teenager who hit you with a car eighteen years ago and broke your spine," I started sobbing - a big, horrible sob that bubbled to the surface of years of grief.
She was so sweet and hugged me and said, “Oh, baby, baby! Don't worry. I'm fine!" Then she took me to her living room. I walked around.
It turns out I misunderstood.
Yes, she broke a few vertebrae, but that didn't stop her from walking. She said that "that little accident" helped her pay more attention to her fitness, and she has since been in better health than ever.
Then she apologized primarily for causing an accident. He apologized.
And that a story about the "good old days" from author Morgan Housel:
A few months ago I was mentioning to my wife how amazing it was (life in my twenties). We were 23 years old, employed and living in our version of the Taj Mahal. This was before kids, so on weekends we slept in until 10:00, went for walks, ate brunch, took naps, and went out for dinner. This was our life. Over the years.
“It was life at the top, as good as it gets,” I told her.
“What are you talking about?” she said. “You were then more anxious, scared and probably depressed than ever.”
…I look back today and think, “I must have been so happy then. Those were my best years.”
But in reality, I was thinking, "I can't wait for these years to end."
It makes me think a lot about the past and our future. Turns out, none of them are set in stone!
Which story from your past can you rewrite?
As the cliché goes, it's easier to connect the dots by looking back than by looking forward.
Is there a story from your past about a specific moment that you still carry with you?
Maybe it's shame about something that happened, but it led to something even better for you.
Maybe it's a longing for a past life that never really existed.
The past has already happened, but that doesn't mean it's written in stone!
Back to Sievers:
“You can change your story.
Actual factual events are a small part of this. Everything else is a perspective, open to reinterpretation.
The past never ends.”
I would like to know what story from the past you tell yourself, good or bad, that you decide to rewrite?
-Steve
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