Living with the past

Watched/fast-forwarded through The Huntsman: Winter's War. Wow, 17% on Rotten Tomatoes seems about right. While the movie was actually about a bunch of incredibly strong & conflicted women, the male-only title should have given me my first clue that a gaggle of dudes wrote, directed, and produced it. Sigh. Why do I keep torturing myself with these Hollywood flicks? This adult version of Frozen, without the fun songs and much more stabby, even had the same message: "Let it go."
I've been thinking about the past and how it affects us lately, with the one-year anniversary of my father's passing this past week. The past is too important to just "let it go," and I would much rather learn how to process my emotions better rather than try to leave anything behind. I can still grow and advance and improve without cutting away the aspects of my past that made me who I am. I would rather work hard at overcoming any negative influences and say, "Look at what I achieved, to get beyond that negativity and undervaluing of my past, I'm the gosh darn hero of my own life." It's about choices: I work every day on choosing to rise above the negative influences of my past, instead of letting them turn me into an ice queen who steals children, like in the movie I panned at the beginning of this post. If I just let it go, how could I gauge how far I've come?
Rant over. 😊❤