About two months ago, I got a tattoo on my left forearm that says “forward”. (Naturally, as a developer, I got it in a fixed-width font, specifically Courier New.)
I got it because I’ve always been the kind of person that lives in the past. I tend to look backwards and think about the past and wish I could change things about it. Not everything in my past is change worthy, of course, but I do have regrets. I have done foolish things. We all do, I suppose, but I tend to spend more time than I should dwelling on this fact.
However, life isn’t lived backwards, and no matter how much I wish I could, I can’t go back. Life is lived, well, forward. I got the tattoo because I wanted a constant reminder of this important fact. I want to live my life looking forward and not looking back.
This came about in part because it suddenly occurred to me that every decision I make affects not “Past Me” but “Future Me”. The decisions I make today about anything, big or small, affect who I will be and what my life will become. Thinking about “Future Me” and doing things for his benefit is something that I want to have on the forefront of my mind. I can’t change decisions I have made, but I can make decisions today with “Future Me” in mind.
More than once in the last few months I’ve started thinking about things in the past, looked down at my forearm, and stopped. Life is lived moving forward.