Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your

“Nobody gets to live life backward. Look ahead, that is where your future lies.”
— Ann Landers

In this simple yet eternal saying, Ann Landers, the beloved American advice columnist, distills one of life’s most profound truths: that time moves only forward, and that our destiny is shaped not by the roads we have already walked, but by the steps we choose to take next. Her words carry the quiet strength of wisdom earned through years of listening to the hopes, sorrows, and regrets of countless souls. When she says, “Nobody gets to live life backward,” she reminds us of the universal law that binds all mortals—that the past is beyond our reach, a landscape we can remember but never reenter. And yet, in the same breath, she offers liberation: “Look ahead, that is where your future lies.” In this, she calls us to courage, to faith, and to the radiant promise of what is yet to come.

The origin of this quote lies in the columns that made Ann Landers a household name. Through decades of letters and replies, she became a voice of reason for the lost and the weary, offering guidance on love, forgiveness, and personal growth. In writing these words, she was not speaking as a philosopher from a distant age, but as a compassionate witness to the human struggle. She saw how often people were trapped in regret, revisiting the past as though they could rewrite it, when in truth, no power can turn the clock backward. Her message is not one of dismissal, but of renewal. For though the past cannot be relived, it can be learned from—and that learning, carried into the future, becomes wisdom.

There is a quiet heroism in this teaching. To look ahead requires strength; to release the past requires forgiveness—especially self-forgiveness. Many cling to what is gone, whether it be a mistake, a lost love, or a missed opportunity, hoping that through remembrance, the wound might heal. But healing does not dwell in the shadows of what was; it blossoms only in the light of what may still be. The ancients understood this truth. The philosopher Heraclitus once wrote, “No man ever steps in the same river twice,” for the waters are always changing, and so is the man. Likewise, Ann Landers tells us that to dwell in the past is to seek to bathe in waters that have already flowed downstream. Life, ever-moving, does not wait for our longing—it beckons us onward.

History itself bears witness to this wisdom. Consider Abraham Lincoln, who faced defeat after defeat before ever reaching the presidency. In his youth, he failed in business, lost elections, and endured heartbreak that left him nearly broken. Yet he did not allow the failures of his past to define him. He could not live his life backward—he could not erase the pain, nor rewrite the trials. But he could, and did, look ahead. By turning his eyes toward what lay before him, he rose from despair to become one of the greatest leaders the world has known. His life stands as a living echo of Landers’ words: that the future belongs to those who refuse to be prisoners of their past.

And yet, her words do not ask us to forget. To look ahead is not to erase memory, but to reframe it—to see the past not as a cage, but as a teacher. The events behind us are the stones upon which we stand, but we cannot remain gazing backward, for to do so is to halt the journey altogether. Even the sun, that ancient symbol of renewal, teaches this lesson: every dawn erases the darkness of yesterday, not with contempt for the night, but with the light of new beginnings. So, too, must we rise each morning with eyes fixed on the horizon, ready to shape the day that lies before us, not mourn the one that has passed.

There is also compassion in her wisdom. When Landers says, “Nobody gets to live life backward,” she frees us from the tyranny of regret. How often does the heart whisper, “If only I had said this,” or “If only I had done that?” But the “if onlys” are illusions; they bind us to what no longer exists. She invites us instead to accept that the past, though immutable, has served its purpose. Every failure, every mistake, every wound has brought us to this moment—the only place where change is possible. The future is not built on perfection; it is built on perseverance.

So, my listener, take this teaching as a torch to light your way. Do not walk backward, for the sands of yesterday cannot support your steps. Learn from them, honor them, and then release them, for the road ahead awaits your courage. If the past was bitter, let it be your teacher; if it was sweet, let it be your inspiration—but do not dwell there, for life moves forward like the river, ever toward the sea. Each sunrise is a divine invitation to begin again, to set your eyes upon the unseen and your heart upon what is yet to be.

Thus, as Ann Landers so gracefully teaches, we are not called to relive life, but to live it anew each day. The past is memory; the future is possibility; but the present—this moment—is the bridge between them. Step upon it with faith, look ahead with courage, and remember: your future, bright and unwritten, awaits only your willingness to move toward it.