All the talk this past year on social media and on talk shows has been about “living in the present. Its not a new movement by any extreme – its been around forever and the quotes range from Alan Watts, Tolstoy to Oprah.

Mindfulness and being present is (and rightfully is) all the rage. Even the great Satchel Paige said, “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” I can go on on with quotes expressing that simple yet so important message.

So why do I promote talking about the past?
People live lives that are filled with good days, bad days, dreams crashing and dreams bursting through in all their glory. Births, deaths, marriages and divorces. Moments of feeling or being lost and moments of being found and finding new people. There is the “Damn it” moments and the “eureka” moments.
When people go through all of these roller coaster of events, emotions and respond to them – there are lessons to be learned.
The average man is a hero.
Getting through the day can be difficult and getting through the nights can sometimes be damn near impossible.
But we do get through them. We get over the broken hearts, lost jobs, broken dreams and rain outs. We have survived.
Are the scars we picked up ugly or are they badges of honor?
I have been up, down, on the mountains peak and out cold on the cold ground. I have been places I would never have thought possible and I have been places I could only have dreamed possible.
The point I am making here is – I have lived a normal life. Nothing grand and nothing terrible. I am blessed with everything I need even if I cannot always have everything I want.
I have stories to tell for my children to read one day, for my grandchildren to read so they can know and understand the man I am. For the generations that follow to catch a glimpse of an average life lived and all of the obstacles I have had to overcome.
If you know someone (even your own self!) who’s story must be told – tell the story in full.
Call me – that is what I do.
I live in the present but I keep the lessons from the past fully ingrained within me so I can continue to learn from the successes and the failures.
How did I get through those lonely cold nights?
How did I get up from the cold ground?
How did I get through the day when my self-respect was tossed around by intellectual dwarfs who’s power is only knocking other down so they feel taller?
I did – to quote my father, “We lived and we survived.”
There is more to it – contact me so I can write the story of their lives.


Freddy S. Zalta
freddy@thestoryoftheirlives.com