This blog post is a little different than all the others. Although this can absolutely apply to your fitness journey, what I’m about to talk about applies to any journey or venture you’re currently embarking on.

I first heard this quote, “keep moving forward,” in the Disney film, Meet the Robinson’s. This is actually an excerpt from a longer quote that goes: “Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” Today I’m going to convince you why you need to live by this quote every single day.

“Keep moving forward,” easier said than done, right? Of course it is. How do we keep moving forward in moments when looking back is habitual. In my own life I find that looking back becomes habitual when I’m experiencing regret. “I should’ve",” “I would’ve,” “I could’ve,” or as my dad says “shoulda, woulda, coulda.” Although regret is a terrible feeling, it’s not as finite as we make it seem. It’s actually quite informative and inspiring.

I recently read a book called “The Untethered Soul” by Michael A. Singer, which explores and explains the journey of spiritual awakening…hold on, stay with me. And, he talks about the idea of finiteness, in an infinite world, and one’s ability to constantly go beyond one’s self. I know you’re probably very confused and wondering what you’ve gotten yourself into by reading this by, like I said, stay with me.

When we think about regret, with think about it as this absolute thing. I did X so now I feel Y and what’s done is done. There’s no going back with regret. And now although in terms of our collective realities and perception of time, we cannot go back and change that we did X, what we can do is reprogram and redefine our relationship with regret. Rather than claiming a fearful relationship with regret, we should claim one of student and teacher.

If you’re really being honest with yourself, regret is only a mask; it is failure disguised. Regret simply tells us we’ve failed, and that “feeling” of regret is simply or inability to accept that. We reject our failure by replaying and rewriting something that has already happened. We refuse to accept a truth, and in doing so we put ourselves into a constant habitual loop of looking back for too long and thus living in the past.

“Don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward.” The longer we look back, the longer we stay stagnant, and stagnancy is regression.

So, how do we “keep moving forward?” This can either be extremely easy or extremely difficult, it depends on where you are in your journey and if you’re somehow always able to see the glass half full. Nonetheless, the answer is simple: let go. The art of letting go is a lost one. And at a time when cancel culture is at its highest, with the peak no where in sight, letting go doesn’t even seem to be atop anyone’s list of “to dos.”

Letting go is as easy as watching a bird fly into your view and then fly away. But, it’s only that easy if you allow it to be. This takes practice and commitment. I urge you to practice letting go, allowing yourself to feel and then quickly move on. Release any sense of regret but first sit with it. Welcome it and accept it, but do not feed it. Allow your regret (read: failures) to guide you, having become your favorite teacher.

Follow your curiosity and only look back when it’s necessary to move forward.