The shadow of the past will hold the future hostage only if you let it. The wonderful thing about life is that we all have a chance in every single second of it to change our future. Think about it, with every breath we take, with every thought we think, and with every word we utter, we have the chance to become someone who we never presented ourselves as before.

To a certain extent the past might always have at least a portion of the future hostage, but truthfully if we are willing to transform our lives and use the past as a stepping-stone for our future endeavors the shadow that our pasts will cast on our future will barely be visible. We must never forget where we came from, but we must also never forget that as long as we believe, there is always hope for a brighter future