When I edit a book, running through draft number whatever (let’s say 4 or 5 or 10?) I leave some things the way they are. Other things I change, I enhance, I sharpen the writing, I bring in more details, or maybe cut out writing with too much details.
At the end, the final product you read will be a combination of things old and new. A mixture of scenes that weren’t all written at exactly the same time, but when they come together, they hopefully form a cohesive product that will keep you reading from page to page.
You can say the same about life. Our lives are made up of old and new. Old experiences and new experiences, old friends, new friends. No, we can’t go back and edit them, we can’t erase bad things, we can’t rewrite anything, but we CAN make new experiences count. We can go back and mend old and broken relationships. We can go back and solve old problems. Our lives are constantly changing, a constant work in progress. Sometimes, like that manuscript you’ve been editing to perfection. But it’s never going to be perfect is it? Like we we never be perfect. But that’s okay! We don’t have to be perfect. We don’t have to erase the past and rewrite every single thing.