A friend of mine was taking her annual GUILT Trip
knowing in advance that this trip was going to be
unpleasant.
She got tickets to fly there on WISH I HAD airlines.
It was an extremely short flight. She got her
baggage
which she didn't check. She chose to carry it
herself all
the way. It was weighed down with a thousand
memories of
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. Not a soul greeted her as
she
entered the terminal to the REGRET CITY
International
Airport.
As she checked into the LAST RESORT Hotel, she
noticed that they would be hosting the year's most
important event, the ANNUAL PITY PARTY. She wasn't
going to miss that great social occasion. Many of
the
town's leading citizens would be there.
First, there would be the DONE family. (You know,
SHOULD HAVE, WOULD HAVE and COULD HAVE.) Then came
the HAD family. You probably know old WISH
and his clan. Of course the OPPORTUNITIES would be
present.
MISSED and LOST. The biggest family would be
the YESTERDAYS. There are far too many of them to
count, but each one would have a very sad story to
share.
Then SHATTERED DREAMS would surely make an
appearance. And IT'S THEIR FAULT would regale them
with stories (excuses) about how things had failed in
his
life, and each story would be loudly applauded by
DON'T
BLAME ME and I COULDN'T HELP IT.
Well, to make a long story short, she went to this
depressing party knowing that there would be no real
benefit in doing so. And, as usual, she became very
depressed. But as she thought about all of the
stories of
failures brought back from the past, she felt someone
telling her that all of this trip and subsequent
"pity
party" could be cancelled by HER! She started to
truly realize that she did not have to be there. She
didn't have to be depressed. One thing kept going
through
her mind, "You can't change yesterday, but you
have
the power to make today a wonderful day. You can be
happy,
joyous, fulfilled, encouraged, as well as
encouraging."
Knowing this, she left
REGRET CITY immediately and left no forwarding
address.
Was
she sorry for mistakes she'd made in the past? Yes!
But
she also knew there is no physical way to undo
them.
So, if you're planning a trip to REGRET CITY, please
cancel all your reservations now. Instead, take a
trip to
a place called STARTING AGAIN. She liked it so much
that she has now taken up permanent residence there.
Her
neighbors, the I FORGIVE MYSELFS and the NEW STARTS
are so
very helpful. By the way, you don't have
to carry around heavy baggage because the load is
lifted
from your shoulders upon arrival. God bless you in
finding this great town. If you can find it - it's
in your
own heart - please look us up on I CAN DO IT street.