Do you believe that your past defines who you are as a person today?

[msmoneybags48]

I have reasons to ask this question.  There are people in this world who believe that a person's past defines them for life, and I am a living testimonial that it does not.  While it is true that I have done things in my past, I did not define my entire life around it; I defined my own life.  People also believe that you cannot change your life, but I have.  Yet people still want to define me by my past.  I have been married to my husband for two years and a woman I knew back then made the statement that my husband might as well had married her, since he married me.  When the subject came up, he told me about it and I asked him why she would say that.  She did not want him to marry me, but has no control in the matter, since we are both consenting adults.  I also asked him why he didn't want her.  He told me she married a man, they both cheated on each other, and she threw hot water on him to burn him.  The end result was that he almost killed her because of it.  First of all, I will tell you this:  if I have to do something that heinous, I wouldn't want to be  in a relationship at all.   I wouldn't want a man if I had to be that silly to prove a point.  What is your take on it?

[workin4alivin]

I believe people can change ... it's too depressing not to think otherwise!  And there's proof all around us in the people we know/knew.  We've all walked on a bumpy road, very few people can say their life has been perfect.

My 38 y/o son is in the same boat, he's done some pretty bad things in the past and his dad still looks at him like that, beats him down verbally after he brings him in then SPLAT ... he knocks him down again.  I wish my son would not be around his dad, but I believe he needs to be there to let it go (make sense?).

To the people who want to continue to define you by your past, to heck with them and give them blessings from God, Universe or whatever you believe in.  They certainly need it!

[chazman26]

People can and do change.  Your past does pay a part and always be a part of who you are each and every day, but I believe it is more about your current outlook and how you handle current every day issues.


You past blessings and hardships will always give you impulses, but your current thoughts can change or mold them.

[surveygrabber]

That would depend on the situation. People can change and move on with their lives. I would forgot about all the hardships you had and just move on. Nobody in the world is perfect.

[rainman306]

Eventually all of you past actions and work ethics start to cumulate into who you are what you believe and what you do in daily life, but there are also a lot of things out of your control like where you get a job and how much money you make and if you can stay healthy and how others influence your life.

Even though at present I no longer make much as much money as I use to and don't travel like I use to or am surrounding as much with smart and ambious people as I once was I am still someone with those experience ... then again if more years pass by without getting into such a network of people of financial situation I may evolve/regress into another person in some ways.

[ahmedrocks234]

 Too deep for this site

[teresa3200]

The past is a learning experience and a stepping stone. If you don't learn from your past than it is still your present.

[faamanatu68]

I believe it does totally!!!

[lywb2168]

I believe that it defines you, but we all change and your past teaches you how to behave in the present and how to act on the future.  You always learn from you mistakes and make better decisions on the future, but at the same time there is people that is really evil and will not change no matter what.

[dsawan]

no.