A few years ago, I had a horrible stench lurking in my closet. Every time I opened my closet I was hit with a spoiled odor that could ruin someone's appetite for days. The odor that my closet gave off was so rancid that I was afraid to find out what the smell was. Instead of searching through my closet to solve the issue, I closed the door to my closet and left it unopened for weeks. At the time, I truly believed this would be the best solution. While this solution saved my nose for the first week, as time went on the odor started spreading past my closet door into my room. Still petrified of what could be in there, I refused to put my big girl pants on and find out what it was rotting in my closet. When the stench started leaking from my bedroom to the hallway, my mom wouldn't stand for it any longer. She took it upon herself to dig through my closet, and wallah, what did she find? An old rotten turkey sandwich in one of my old backpacks that probably had been decaying for at least 4 months.

So, I know what you might be thinking. "This girl is disgusting, she let a 4 month old turkey sandwich rot in her closet!" And yes, this is true. However, the point of my dirty turkey sandwich story is not to exploit how filthy of a person I am (even though it does do that). I realized over time that the dirty turkey sandwich hidden in my closet is a metaphor for life. I was so frightened for what could be lurking in my closet that I hid from it until it caught up to me, instead of facing the problem in the first place.

Everyone in their lives has skeletons in their closet. The painful memories they've experienced, the terrible decisions they've made, and the awful things they've done. Majority of people try to hide from those skeletons to forget the dreadful things they've done and experienced. They shut their closet hoping to keep those memories away forever. However, if there's anything I've learned, its better to face those skeletons and accept them. If you don't, I can promise you they will find a way out of your closet. Just as the stench in my closet did.

You may not be proud of the things you've done, how you've treated people, or a decision you made, but its important to forgive yourself and face the skeletons in your closet. Dwelling on the past and our mistakes only holds us back in life.

Raffiki, from the Lion King once said, "Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it... or learn from it,".

Don't run from your past, learn from it, and definitely don't let a dirty old rotten sandwich sit in your closet for months.