Does the past define your present and future?

Does the past define your present and future?

na brah, chin up

Nope, I was a pedophile murderer once and I'm totally cool now :)

Yes, for the VAST majority of people it does.

Let me check

Loner at primary school - check
Loner at high school - check
Loner at university - check
Loner at the office - check
Loner at the gym - check
Loner in general - check

This is the only life I know. Having a friend or a girlfriend seems like fiction to me.

I'm nearly 30 and I've neglected seeking mental health assistance, probably should have done that years ago. I know people say meds are bad, but I bet they would have at least turned me into a social person, now I just feel too late to change anything about it.

It depends on how fucked up your past was

If you want to be/do something, just fucking do it. I'm completely different from how I was even just 3 years ago.

But how to let go of the past if all that you know is that

Drive car into a tree and hope you get amnesia

Only if you're being reported by CNN

who in his right mind would think of the past if he's living in the here and now?

For literally everybody it does. People aren't doomed to repeat their past, but their actions in the past will surely have an impact on their decisions in the future, for better or for worse.

>He thinks time is linear

People shouldn't give two fucks about their past, accept it and change the present which will shape the future.

Hell no. It's stupid to judge yourself based on your past, the people you know will do that for you. People can only judge you based on the you that you let them see, they don't really know who you are. You don't really know yourself as well as you think you do either, you won't know whether or not you can do something unless you make the decision to try. Strive to be the person you want to be. Don't ever let yourself go stagnant.

Unless you literally concuss yourself your past experiences will colour the decisions that follow. You can try and stoically ignore your history as much as possible but it will impact you, even unconsciously.

People without alzheimers?

I said accept the past not ignore or forget it user.

You murdered pedophiles or you pedophiled murderers?

He who controls the past commands the future.
He who commands the future conquers the past.

He who accepts the past commands the present

Read Sartre kvnt

This.

I was pretty much a lone stoner from ages 14-17. I started to not give a fuck about being embarrassed and ended up developing a really cool social life and even got laid (banged 3 girls at age 17, all older than me).

I went into a depression after that and became a recluse again from age 18-22.

Then I changed my life again and I'm now living in an apartment with my girlfriend, have a great job, look great and work out a lot, and have a pretty fun social life.

If you have a drive to do something, just go for it. When your desire to achieve something outweighs your embarrassment of potential failure, you can do some really great things with your life. As you build your confidence, you will be less and less deterred and more likely to continue on trying new things. Use momentum to your advantage and don't let your past or your feelings get in the way.

Look, OP, is you're looking for serious answers, anyone in this thread that thinks the past determines who you are in the future were doomed from the beginning, because it's basically a self fulfilling prophecy. "Well, I was this person at time x so im gonna be that way forever :(", which isn't true in the slightest. Of course, most people adopt this sort of narrow mindset of reaching an age of who you're gonna be for the rest of your life, and then it stops full period, but that's not true.

You either change due to variables around you, change because you WANT to change, stay who you are because you're satisfied with who you are as a person, or let the past define you, nothing wrong with any of these except for the last one which is subjective anyway.

yes because the future will always be the past

how is it too late? 30 is literally prime. you still have 20 good years of life which is almost as long as you had until now.

you've seen how it went for 30 years, why continue on the same road? it didn't get better until now, and you can be sure it won't get better in the future if you stay on it. it's time to find another road or make one.

if you keep delaying that it'll be too late for real before you know it.

No it doesn't the past is the past the present is now and out of it you define the future.

there is no present, only tomorrow's past.

Be more dramatic now will you. The present is the present the future is what you do in the present the past is something you learn from.

Unless you believe in determinism or fate, yes

I'm living in the future so the present is my past

not a great idea to already live in the future

It's a significant factor but it's not the only factor. (If it were, it would effectively disprove the concept of free will.)

people thinking the past is the only thing which defines them will have a hard life