Preserving the Past

I'm having an inRhymes moment right now! My playlist of favorites on shuffle, my coffee is hot, and the smoke rolls off my lips like a sigh of relief. Gratitude for my life. There is something about the Thanksgiving season that makes me nostalgic.

My hair is a mess, and I didn't shower yesterday because I had nowhere to be or go. There is no one around to need me like it used to be. My kids are grown and living life by their own rules. My dog is in Heaven, and I hope he is sitting around a campfire telling stories of his own.

It's quiet and all I have are my thoughts as I look back on 2025. Life isn't perfect and I'm not where I thought I would be. It's been hard but not as hard as 2023 and 2024. It has taken a lot of quiet time and self-reflection to come to this conclusion.

Because look at what I have accomplished, and all the exciting things that are in the works! I can't wait to make new memories in 2026 with old & new friends, embracing new opportunities and setting the past free. I am stepping out of my cage.

I've learned it wasn't the past keeping me shackled and chained, it was me keeping the ghosts alive every time I let them visit me. The haunted has become the haunting. I am the key to my own cage. - t.mcb

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for. My biggest take away from this year is that unless we are listening to our own internal compass, there will never be true happiness. That life is lived in risk and choices. I've learned that love really is the answer, and everything will be better tomorrow than it was yesterday. But only if...

If only I could cancel or erase my past, then I wouldn't be me and I wouldn't be here with you, telling these true stories of a life lived here on earth. Do I wish I could go back and change the bad things that have happened to me, or would I do things differently? I can't say that I would because I have gained so many blessings from each experience that was meant to keep me chained to the past wrapped in heartbreak and hurt.

I believe this is where I set myself free. Not by erasing or canceling things that don't feel good, because it still happened. And that won't stop things like that from happening to someone else or prevent history from repeating itself. It is just a different set of people it happens to. In fact, all holding on does is kill the future by keeping the vicious circle going. Mistakes feeding the past by doing it all over again, because there is no previous lesson to learn. Insane, right? That's Life.

In reality, the past can be changed by learning from and making peace with it. What cannot be done is erasing or canceling the pain it has already caused. 2025 has been a year of learning for me, that is for sure.

Every day I make the decision to listen to my heart and follow my future's call, and surprisingly enough, it has brought me full circle. Right back to the past. But this time is different because I get to help heal it rather than keep hurting from it.

I believe in redemption and forgiveness and these two actions have freed me from the locks and chains that were holding me back. But you cannot have one without the other.

Life isn't meant to be a prison, but the power of our thoughts can most certainly make it one.

My hopes for 2026 are bigger than they were in 2025. I think I finally got myself together enough to enjoy this next volume in my books of life. I see great success around the corner with new career goals, new book ideas and a new interest in preserving the past.

If I don't, and you don't, who will? If we keep erasing or canceling or blaming others for our problems, there will never be freedom from the past, and the future will just be another long list of injustices.

I'm thankful for my life and the opportunities before me. I am thankful for my friends and family. I am thankful for the insight to happiness. I'm setting the weight down as I no longer need to carry it. I am thankful for the past and all it represents. Right or wrong, good or bad... it has already happened. I will preserve all the parts, because that is where you find the truth. It is the truth that sets us free.

I'm wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving season and will see you soon. Christmas and all the holidays in between are coming, and I have a brand-new perspective.

I'm looking back fondly on what matters, and everything else has been let go of to make room for all there still is to be.

I am thankful for you. You have helped my dreams come true by being you.

Until next time.

inRhymes.com