The Moving-on Narrative

Artwork by Maryam Zainal (@Maryam_Zainal)
Artwork by Maryam Zainal (@Maryam_Zainal)

Once upon a time in a land far far away… AND STOP… Ever wonder what would have happened if the founder of that phrase never continued the story because he or she was stuck in the past? Perhaps that story and the others that followed would never come to life and we would never use that phrase almost every time we make up a story.

Moving on is one of the most difficult things in life, “Moving-on Narrative” suggests that we un-glue ourselves from our past, pick up whatever is left of us, and face the world with our head held up high. It suggests that we get ourselves out of a place that can do us no good but can harm us greatly in order to continue to live bittersweet events to create the story we call life.

Letting go is tough; tougher than one might think. The heavy steel strings that hold us to what we went through, the people we lost, and the memories engraved in our minds pull us to an endless tornado of emotions and darkness. Human behavior suggests we hold on to what makes us feel happy but we hold on stronger to the ones that make us sad. And to make matters worse, we don’t want to let go, we don’t want to let go and we don’t want to let go.

The darkness and the emotional roller-coaster can get so bad that we fail to recognize what these strings do to us. We don’t realize what we are missing out on when we are in that worm hole, we don’t see how much we are losing while being stuck in that dark place, we can’t tell who we are hurting in the process of holding on to the past, and we can’t understand where this complex mess of strings might end up taking us.

What most of us don’t grasp is that life is a story of a person, we all have one that is only ours and no one can read our entire story but us. Yes, other people become part of our stories, but no one knows our entire story but us. The question every person has to ask oneself is “if life is a story of me, how do I want it to be read?”

Without a future to look forward to, there is no point in breathing. All of us, at one point or another have to walk away of what is holding us back. We all have to take the decision to imagine ourselves standing up and walking to a better place in life. The story has to move forward and no mater what happens everyone has to remember to move on.

In the end “It’s like writing a book, to write the second one you need to forget the first one”

Dictionary:

  • Moving (on): to change from one place or position to another, to set or keep in motion
  • Narrative: a story or account of events, experiences, or the like whether true or fictitious
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