The past is a complex place. It contains remnants of who you were, the people who once occupied your life, and familiar places that have now become unfamiliar. Fragments of missed chances, regrets and heartbreak linger in the depths of the past. Yet moments of excitement, spontaneity and unwavering love cause the past to seem attractive.

Fear tends to be a connotation with the past. We're afraid to move backward opposed to forward. We dread being stuck in the past and not knowing how or when to let go. We hesitate to let the people who hurt us a long time ago back in again. We want to avoid reverting to our old ways and bad habits.

But sometimes, necessity should be linked to the past.

Although we pride ourselves in being future-orientated, memories of our past seem to seep into our minds on a daily basis. The song we hear on the radio reminds us of the first time we heard it and who we were with. We look out the window and are solemnly greeted by dingy clouds when all we want is the sunshine from yesterday. Something in the current moment reminds us of conversations we had, places we visited, jokes we heard, people we saw, things we used to know, books we read, events we attended and other arbitrary details.

It is a necessity to run into the past. It may sound unappealing to bump into ex-friends and flings, relive hurtful words or cringe-worthy exchanges and revisit hopeless places that we no longer frequent.

We need to confront all of these things.

The past enables us to realize who we are now. The growth that surrounds us and allows us to develop. It's necessary to see the people of the past because it makes us realize why they remained there. Or it gives us a chance to bring them back into our lives. We're flooded with the smiles, laughs, butterflies and secrets we shared with them and long to share again.The life-changing adventures we embarked upon enable us to look forward to all that is yet to come.

A brisk walk down memory lane helps us realize how good we had it and how great we have it now.

We were meant to run into the past so we can appreciate our present and continue onto our future.