I don't think it's ever good to let the past "go", only to learn and grow from past experiences.

heh i like weird art too

I'm not sure.

Only if I completely leave this world after death, other than that I'm clinging to it forever and ever and ever and ever.

My obsession with the irretrievable past is ultimately the reason why I'm here. The whole waifu thing is just a subconscious longing for the idealized childhood friend, really.

That sweet little girl who once sat next to me in the cafeteria in 2nd grade has imprinted me for life, she doesn't even know.

I just need to create good future so my past doesn't matter.

Yes. Things suck for a while, but then soon I genuinely just stop caring.

Up until late last year, I had lived through each day regretting what I had done in the past until one day I suddenly had an epiphany; I can always start again. I would see my past life as a dirty canvas that was painted on poorly, then tell myself that starting from now the canvas would be clean and free for me to paint on again. I was mentally distancing myself from my past mistakes and telling myself that I am a new person capable of many possibilities; like a generic anime protagonist in a new anime series who has no backstory.

In practice it doesn't work well for things that happened recently that I regretted, but I find it does stop me from dwelling on them after a period of time has past. My greatest fears are making a mistake that I cannot simply 'will' away (eg. affluent disease or maiming someone by accident), reaching an age where I simply cannot abandon everything and start anew because my window of opportunities has closed and finally, if one day I lose my ability to learn from my mistakes and I begin living a cycle of regret.

I guess I could do so if I tried really hard but what's the point of letting the past go when you've got no future.

I don't really feel like I have a "past" anymore. I used to force myself to forget embarrassing things and to just live in the present. Maybe that ended up rewiring my brain completely or something. I only live in the present now, for better or for worse. I feel like a ghost, or a phantom or something.

Now all I have to do is make my present actually enjoyable itself.

>>11124
That almost exactly how I feel. To most people since they see me in the same places at the same times every week of my life. I'm just known as "that guy". I really am one step from being an actual ghost. No purpose, just a shell of what it once was haunting various places I used to enjoy that still bring me comfort.

>>11136
>I really am one step from being an actual ghost

Sometimes my parents will try to explain events to me and I have to remind them that I was sitting right next to them when they happened, and in more extreme cases they will tell me about something I told THEM. I'm basically akarin

It's hard to forgive myself.

No. I have a little relationship that I never fully concluded. I don't have closure and I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to find closure.

>>11143

How many years ago was that if you don't mind me asking? I felt the same way for years but after 4 or so years I managed to let it go even though I wasus sure it'll stick with my till I'll kick the bucket.

>>11145

It was more or less 5 years ago. Don't get me wrong, the relationship means nothing to me, I don't plan to ever pursue it anymore, I just want to say farewell properly.

The things that bother me most from the past are things that still exist in some form in the present. For example, a "friend" who treated me awfully in the past still bothers me because I still see them today. If I didn't have anything to do with them it wouldn't be that much of a problem.

>>11150

Could you not just avoid them?

I am still bit bitter because person who I considered my best friend just closed all connections without saying a word, years ago. Obviously because he found better company.

There are some small things, but I deal with them pretty well. I just need to keep looking forward.

>>11156

I've done that to someone years ago. Couldn't have been the guy though, because I didn't find better company and I'm pretty sure I wasn't considered a best friend. Classic case of being too anxious when interacting with her/friends and wanting to be left alone.

Post edited on 23rd Jul 2012, 8:22pm

>>11156

I did this to the last friend I had left, because I never wanted to see him in person anymore (I don't like people in my room and I don't like leaving the house) and I hated his other friends. Also I made the leap to PC gaming and doing that with my friend would have made my online and real life have a common bond, and I don't want that. he was the more normal of the two of us though, and i'm sure by now he wouldnt want to be friends with a loser like me anyway

Post edited on 23rd Jul 2012, 8:15pm

>>11156
This happened to me too. He got a 3DPD, and never talked to me again. It has been two years, and I still can't get over it.

Some things.

Social anxiety serves as a constant reminder to many past events, though.

I can, but only temporarily. You see, I have this little ritual. Every Friday and Saturday night, I go to the store, buy a lot of alcohol (I like to experiment with different types) energy drinks and snacks, and at 11PM I start drinking. By midnight I'm completely drunk and then up until 6 AM everything is bliss. During those 6 hours, I'm completely free of everything that haunts me: the burnt bridges, the wasted opportunities, the people I offended and scared away, all the times I screwed up. I wish there was some way to do it during the week as well, but I have to work.

It is not one who calls the past back, OP. It's the past who always return to hunt us.

It's easy to let the past go when it's uneventful.