Living in the Past

I just finished a project that looks at the issues surrounding my closed adoption such as regret, family fallout, friendships and reunion. While I hope the project reaches lots of women who need some hope, it has left me empty. Those experiences have meaning and value, to be sure. But I am just spent.

My girlfriend asked me yesterday if I felt like I had been living in the past. Yes! That's exactly what I feel like. Even though I have been conscious of that and have purposefully not filled my time with writing only, I feel drained.

It's a funny experience in a way. I picked a topic and started writing. But the more I wrote, the more I remembered. And the more I remembered, the more it impacted my writing. And so on and so on.

So how do you keep from living in the past? What are some ways you deal with past stuff while still living in the present?

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