Never Go Back

by Henry Cloud

My Life in Five Short Chapters Chapter One: I went out for a walk, and I fell into a deep, dark hole. It took me a long time to get out. Chapter Two: I went out for a walk, and I fell into the same deep, dark hole. It took me a long time to get out. Chapter Three: I went out for a walk, and I came across the same deep, dark hole. I walked up to it slowly, got very close to it, looked inside the hole . . . and I fell in again. It took me a long time to get out. Chapter Four: I went out for a walk, and I came across the same deep, dark hole. This time as I approached it, I decided to not get too close, and I walked around it. Chapter Five: I went out for a walk. This time I went down a different street. So true. Sometimes it takes a while for us to “get it.” We are on autopilot, and we repeat patterns in our lives without even knowing that our pattern is what is creating our problems. We just know that we are in a hole and that it takes us a long time to get out. I often say, “We don’t need new ways to fail. The old ones are working just fine.” It is our patterns that do us in.