[hadaso]

1. You don't really have to forget your past to let go of it.
2. Meeting the "wrong" people (actually not "wrong" but those who are not "the right one") is not just so we are greatful when we meet the right one. Many years ago, when I was much younger, after a relationship that lasted several years ended, I decided not to look for "the right one" but just live life. I realized that I was wasting my life avoiding relationships that are "wrong". So at that short period of time, I deliberately did not avoid relationships with women that were certainly not the right one for me. And actually I had some very good short lived relationships, and i learned a lot from it. You learn a lot from people that are very different and quite incompatible with you.
3. That period didn't last long, since then i met "the right one".
4. That period started with a breakup, when a former partner fell in love with someone else. What I realized then was that I was so happy for her, because i could see he really was "the right one" for her. I also realized then that it was the first time I knew I really loved her, because i was absolutely positive that what i wanted is for her to go with him (I was also satisfied that I knew then my path is different, although I still lost about ten pounds that week).
5. I somewhat regretted wasting most of my time as a young person looking for the right one instead of just living, and getting to know many different people, including those who are certainly "not right". But then when I look back at life and decisions I made I always realize that they were actually the right decisions given what I knew and what i believed back then. The only reason that now I think I should have acted differently is that I know now what I have not known then, and my beliefs have changed based on much more life experience.
6. So my message to younger people is: don't avoid "wrong relationships"/ Make them good and short. When "the right one" arrives you will recognize it, and usually what you need to be able to recognize it is a lot of good experience with "wrong ones".