Picture, if you will, 14-year-old me blaring Pantera through the stereo. I’m in my room getting my lifting clothes on so my mom can drop me off at the Juniata Valley YMCA. I plan on being there for at least two hours, doing some kind of Westside Barbell-inspired powerlifting workout. I bang my head, breaking only for a second to slide on a shirt. It is, of course, sleeveless.

 

 

Pantera’s lead singer, Phil Anselmo, barks, “Yesterday don’t mean shit, what’s over is over and nothing between. Yesterday don’t mean shit, because tomorrow’s the day you have to face.”

 

Hell yeah, Phil! I lace up my Chuck Taylors and head off to deadlift.

 

Stick with me for a minute. We have one more stop to make.

 

Now, picture 25-year-old me. Premature balding has set in, so I stand in my kitchen making dinner, head shaved so I don’t look like one of those guys holding to what he should have let go.

 

 

YouTube plays on my iPad. I’ve turned the volume up so I can hear everything that Alan Watts has to say. One statement stands out above the rest:

 

“It is impossible to be in anything other than the present moment. We cannot relive the past; we cannot enter the future; we literally can only be in the present moment – it’s impossible to be anywhere else.”

 

Introspective and brooding, I thought about that statement for a long time that night. I’ve thought about it many times since – along with my thinking about the lyrics that Mr. Anselmo screamed into my 14-year-old brain.

 

Yesterday don’t mean shit.

 

It is impossible to be in anything other than the present moment.

 

But who are we if we let go of our past? How do we define ourselves?

 

Those are the underlying fears that cause a lot of people to cling to the used-to-coulds and the use-to-couldn’ts.

 

You know what I’m talking about.

 

The use-to-coulds sound like this:

“Shit, when I was 21, I could drink an entire case of Bud heavys, now listen, I’m being serious. I’m not bullshitting. I could drink an entire case of Bud and then squat 2,000 pounds for 15 reps. Hand on the Bible. Honest to God.”

 

The use-to-couldn’ts sound like this:

“Oh, I’ve never been able to do a chin-up. I’ve tried and tried, but I’ve just never gotten one. I don’t think I ever will.”

 

Both people are stuck in the past – one reliving embellished glory days, the other stuck on their failures.

 

Neither of them is that person anymore.

 

While I agree more with Mr. Watts in that today is the day that you have to face, Anselmo was right about yesterday. It’s gone. You can’t do anything about it. You’ll never be that person again.

 

If you used to be incredibly strong, but now you aren’t. That is fine. What can you do now? What do you want now? What are you willing to do about it?

 

Thinking about your past abilities only creates hangups that block you from being real with yourself in the present moment. And if you can’t be real with yourself, you can’t make progress. Or, if you do, you won’t make as much progress as you otherwise would.

 

You have to accept where you currently are. Once you do that, once you accept that you are who you are today, and not you of even 6 months ago, you are ready to move forward. But if you keep thinking about what you used to be able to do, you’ll always shame yourself. And that’s unfortunate because if you’re in tune with your current self you’ll likely realize that thing you used to be able to do isn’t that meaningful to you now.

 

I used to be able to deadlift 615 pounds. I couldn’t care less about trying to do it again because I’m a different person with different desires.

 

 

So, if you have a solid case of the used-to-coulds, check in with yourself. Are those things you used to be able to do really all that important anymore? Or are you letting a past version of you get in your present way?

 

For those of you suffering from the used-to-couldn’ts, today is the day you have to face. What matters now is what you do and what trajectory it puts you on.

 

Have a look at your life. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll find examples of progress. There are things that you overcome, those that you conquered. If you accomplished those things, what makes you believe that you couldn’t accomplish something equally as great…or greater?

 

Yes, you’ve failed. So has everyone else. You’re not special for that reason. And in failing, you learned. You can draw on that experience and use it to take a wiser approach this time. Maybe you need more guidance. Maybe you need to stop making excuses. Maybe you just need to expect a little more of yourself and accept that you’re capable.

 

You are no longer the person that couldn’t do the thing before. You are the person that learned through their experience. All that matters now is what you do with that experience in the present moment.

 

Yesterday don’t mean shit.

 

It is impossible to be in anything other than the present moment.

 

Whether you used-to-could or used-to-couldn’t, remember these quotes and take them to heart.

 

Now act.

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