Brand New What?

 I have heard people say that they are going to change their life and “get a brand new start.”  Oh?  What they most often mean is that they are going to redo the past in a whole new way.  But I don’t know that this is a good goal.  The past is past and all messed up due to bad behavior of one sort or another.  People in Recovery programs, for instance, know that you don’t so much make a brand new start to change the past, but rather make a “brand new end.”  In bad and addictive behaviors, before they got help of whatever sort, the end was pretty predictable.  In addiction you either get locked up or covered up.  I like to work on myself in view of the end of my life.  I cannot change memories, nor change inappropriate past situations.  A wrecked car is a wrecked car.  I cannot make it new again.  As I age, I am sure some health issues will crop up from unhealthy habits of my past.  But do the best with what I have rather than go into whining about what I had lost.  I still have my God and some friends.  They must have bad memories.  But I will take any miracles I can get.  I am working each day on the new end.  I am grateful that I have this chance at sanity.