It’s surprising how our tastes can stretch across the different varieties of flavor. One thing I have found is that the perfect level of ripeness of a fruit, can drastically change from person to person. Some like things older, riper and sweeter. Others like a freshly picked and slightly more tart flavor. There are others still that prefer it almost rotten and fermented. To me, I like certain levels of ripeness for different types of uses. If I’m eating a banana, I want it green and just turning yellow. Past just turning yellow, I let them go brown and use them to make smoothies or for baking. Maybe the idea of repurposing something that is past is prime for something that it was in no way ready for, or could perform as well as when it was fresh, has a pretty direct translation to people. There are things that we take for granted when we are younger that we wish we could go back and capitalize on when we get older. There are things that we envy when we’re younger that we normalize as we get older. Would you trade your accomplishments for the gift of time or your gift of time for the riches of the world? What do you feel is the better deal? I have no desire to go back in time and give up all of my accomplishments, failures and memories. The idea of mortality is what makes life so great and making your way through life, for better or worse, is the gift we can rise up and thrive or completely throw away. If you’re stuck looking back, wishing you could go back and do it again, instead of living in the present, you’re living in a defeatist mindset. Never look back to reevaluate what you want to go back and change, look back to know who you were and what you did to become the person you are now. Then, look forward and see what you can do to make sure you never look back in regret again. Maybe I have all wrong or maybe I’m onto what brings happiness and real growth.