Sometimes when you’re young, you think nothing can hurt you. It’s like being invincible. Your whole life is ahead of you. But as you get older, you realize it’s not always that easy. It’s not until the end of your life that you realize how the plans you made were simply plans. At the end, when you’re looking back instead of forward, you want to believe that you made the most of what life gave you. You want to believe that you’re leaving something good behind. You want it all to have mattered.

It’s been said that the saddest thing a man will ever face is what might have been. But what about the man who’s faced with what was? Or what may never be? Or what can no longer be? Choosing the right path is never easy. It’s a decision we make with only our hearts to guide us. But sometimes we find our way to something better. Sometimes we fight through the regret and remorse of our mistakes, our malice and jealousy and the shame we feel for not being the people we were meant to be. And that’s when we find our way to something better or something better finds its way to us.

You can choose to blame your circumstances on fate or bad luck or bad choices. Or you can fight back. Things aren’t always going to be fair in the real world. That’s just the way it is. But for the most part, you get what you give. The rest of your life is being shaped right now. With the dreams you chase, the choices you make, and the person you decide to be. The rest of your life is a long time. And the rest of your life starts right now.

- ONE TREE HILL