C Lightfoot Journal

The Second Best Time

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.”

Yesterday I said tomorrow. That simple phrase has been echoing in my head lately. It’s a quiet reminder of all the things I told myself I would do — and haven’t.

I carry goals, dreams, little promises I’ve made to myself. But I’ve noticed how easy it is to push them off. Later. Tomorrow. And then tomorrow comes, and nothing has moved. I trade the weight of progress for the ease of the present moment. Comfort wins. But it never feels good when I look back.

When we pause and look over our shoulder, it’s hard not to feel the sting of what we didn’t chase. The doors we didn’t walk through. The chances we let pass. Time has a way of whispering that it’s too late, that we’ve missed it.

That’s why the parable matters so much to me. Maybe I didn’t plant my tree twenty years ago. Maybe I even wasted more time than I’d like to admit. But today is still here. The ground is still good. I still get to plant. And the real question is: do I want to look up in another twenty years, empty-handed again? I know I don’t.

For me, this is less about regret and more about reminder. A reminder that the past can teach me — but it can’t hold me. That the way forward matters more than the years behind me.

Looking back is useful when it shapes the way we step ahead. But sit in it too long and it becomes a trap. Regret can eat away at what’s still possible right now. The trick is to take what you’ve learned, breathe it in, and then move with it.

I think we forget sometimes that we’re not alone in this. Everyone struggles. Everyone has a tree they wish they’d planted sooner. And everyone gets the same choice: to let the past bury the seed, or to put it in the ground today.

C Lightfoot Journal

Untie The Rope

Lately I have felt stuck. The last couple of weeks have felt heavy for some reason. It isn’t because I have been experiencing some life altering shift or anything of that nature. My mind keeps scattering. No single reason.

Maybe, I am in a season of change. I do feel my heart being pulled in several directions simultaneously. Deep down I feel as though I might be at one of those all too familiar crossroads. With several different voices in my head telling me which way to go. I think as we get older(I’m not old…) we start to understand that our time here is precious. Subtle reminders each day that we just aren’t as young as we once were. And that is okay- growing older can still be a lot of fun. You start figuring out exactly who you are. Not allowing yourself to do things that bring zero positive value to your life. It becomes much easier to say no to things. You start caring a little less about people’s opinions of you. You loosen the grip of where society says you “should” be. Run your own race. 

I will say this though-we do limit ourselves based on where the world thinks we should be… I heard a line the other day-I am not sure who said it: “Life starts at forty; the rest is just research.” I don’t fully agree. I think some people figure it out sooner; some later. But, the idea stuck. We give up too early. We tell ourselves it’s too late. We trade the thing that lights us up for the thing that feels safe, and then we call it wisdom. Some people chase the dream and realize it isn’t what they pictured. Others never chase it at all and live with a loop of what-ifs. I’ve been both—bold and hesitant. We can be the ones who get out of our own way. What would happen if you actually went after what was burning inside of you?  

Here’s the image that keeps coming back to me: a boat tied to a pier. The rope is familiar. It’s also the reason you never feel the open water. Untie it. Push off. Let the water get rough. Let it be on you to make it to the other side.

Now is all we have. The past is gone, and re-living it is just another way to waste the present.

I’m telling myself this as much as I’m telling you: just start.

C Lightfoot Journal

The Past Stays Behind

I used to live in the past. Replay the same mistakes. Carry the same anger. Until I realized it wasn’t punishing anyone but me.

Why do we keep letting our past get in the way of our future?

I get it. There are things we wish we could take back, words we shouldn’t have said, choices that led us places we never imagined we’d end up. But holding on to that weight only keeps us chained to what we’re trying to escape.

Let it go.

If you don’t, the life you deserve will keep slipping through your fingers. Real change begins with forgiveness, not just forgiving others, but forgiving yourself first. Because if you can’t forgive yourself, you’ll never truly know how to forgive anyone else.

For a long time, I couldn’t stand the person staring back at me in the mirror. I blamed everything and everyone before I ever took accountability. But nobody else made my choices. Nobody else got me here. That was all me. And once I owned that, everything started to change. I remember the day it hit me. I was staring at myself in the mirror, angry at the choices I’d made… but in that moment, I decided I was done living there.

People say, “Nobody ever really changes.” I couldn’t disagree more. Change starts with hard, honest conversations with yourself. You have to ask.. What do I stand for? Do my actions reflect my values? What am I putting out into the world, because whatever it is, it’s coming back.

This isn’t the time to go easy on yourself. It’s the time to dig deep. To face the memories you’d rather erase. It’s not fun, but it’s necessary.

And if you do it, if you stand on business with yourself, you will come out different. At first, the changes are small, almost invisible. But over time, they stack up. One day, you’ll look in the mirror and realize something incredible.

You like who you see.

The old you is gone. And in their place? Someone stronger. Someone freer. Someone ready for the future they once thought was out of reach.

If you forgave yourself today, how would your life change tomorrow?

Go a little deeper. Beneath The Surface…