“What happened in the past that was painful has a great deal to do with what we are today.” ~ William Glasser
Looking back at my past, I can almost see the lines in the distance of the paths that I have chosen. They are faint in the waning light but the traces are still visible. Those lines, those roads I chose to follow, helped to carve the figure of the person I am now.
Along that road not everything was painful but I can say that those arduous moments gave me more definition as a person than the happier, less stressful times. Those darker moments made me a stronger version of myself. Those difficult stages during my life gave me the tenacity and the persistence to overcome obstacles that I may not have been able to cope with had my life been easier.
It is how we carry ourselves through the difficult moments that gives us our strength. It is how we persevere through misfortune that builds our character. I am who I am because of what I have experienced. I am a better version of the me I could have been because I endured pain and suffering. I made a point to learn from it and now my inner light far outweighs any of the darkness from my past.
polysyllabic profundities 
I was thinking about the past recently, mainly based on a photograph a friend of mine showed me (which I am going to write about myself), although I was just thinking about the picture rather than easy or hard times in my past, your post has made me think back to those times (those I can remember anyway).
I don’t actually quite know how to put it into words, if I attempted it here I fear that the comment would be longer than your post, but in a nutshell, I think that my life events have turned me onto a bit of unhappy cynic. I know full well that it is me that has allowed that to happen, I find that it is quite ingrained now and difficult to shift that perspective.
But as I said to my friend the other night ‘every decision we ever made in our lives has led us to this point in time’
I agree with that. And we can hope that the light far outweighs the darkness. ❤