http://i.imgur.com/4hcARkR.jpg

You can spend minutes, hours, days, weeks, or even months over-analyzing a situation; trying to put the pieces together, justifying what could’ve, would’ve happened… or you can just leave the pieces on the floor and move the fuck on.” – Tupac Shakur

The first image is a story. A parable that I found highlighted several stages of life.

First is, exploring and adventuring.

Second is coming across an obstacle.  Some people give up, some people keep trying. In this case, the person gave up, but raised a family and taught the daughter how to go farther than the parents.

Third is the daughter growing up, gaining skills as the parents grow old.

Fourth is the daughter taking all her skills and making the jump, leaving her parents behind.  She turns back to celebrate the victory with her parents, and…they’re gone.

Waves of emotion, from homesickness, loneliness, fear, shock, hit me at this scene. Reality sets in on the last frame: there’s no going back.

Several themes come out of this for me. First is how rare it is to have the chance to pay back those who support you.  Second is how most people who support you do so without expecting a return, which is wise, because the opportunity for a return is rarely presented.  The conclusion being: exercise gratitude when possible

Other theme is how life is a journey alone, at the end of the day. There are people around you, but they are around you, and they may shape who you are and you may take part of them inside you, but you need to learn how to journey alone, and be prepared for when it happens because it can happen abruptly.

I’ve also recently been struggling with moving on from the past, and the second quote encapsulates a sentiment I’ve been wondering about. When is it applicable? As with most pieces of advice, it’s not the following it that’s the hard part, but the recognizing when to apply it, since it doesn’t apply to all things, and blindly applying advice to all things is unwise.  The image and story above helped me realize that sometimes, you don’t get to choose: life chooses for you. You must move on.  Whether or not you are ready or you want to, you must move on sometimes.

To find out when more life education writing is released, subscribe on the side! Follow on Twitter, on Facebook, on Google+, on Tumblr.

Subscribe to receive more advice to improve your life! Follow on Twitter, on Facebook, on Tumblr.