Have you ever watched a little child laughing, playing, and enjoying life without a care in the world?
There's something wonderful about that kind of innocence.
Children don't begin life worrying about what other people think of them. They don't carry years of disappointment, regret, or painful memories. They simply experience the world with curiosity, wonder, and an open heart.
And sometimes I wonder what happens to that innocence as we grow older.
Life has a way of changing us.
We experience heartbreak, disappointment, criticism, and sometimes cruelty. People say things that stay with us long after they've forgotten saying them. We make mistakes, lose people we love, and face circumstances we never imagined.
Little by little, those experiences can change the way we see ourselves.
We begin carrying burdens we were never meant to carry forever.
And somewhere along the way, we can lose sight of the person we were before the world became so complicated.
That's what inspired “Back To Where We Started.”
I began thinking about how we all enter this world with a sense of innocence, and how the experiences of life can slowly bury that innocence beneath years of hurt, doubt, and fear.
But I also believe something important.
Just because life changes us doesn't mean everything beautiful about who we were has disappeared.
I believe God created each of us with a purpose. And no matter how many mistakes we've made, how many times we've fallen, or how deeply we've been hurt, that purpose doesn't simply vanish.
Sometimes we just need to remember it.
“You're not the words they threw your way.
You're not the weight of yesterday.”
Those words are at the heart of this song.
We are more than the things that happened to us.
More than the mistakes we've made.
More than the opinions other people have formed about us.
And more than the scars we've collected along the way.
I didn't write this song because I believe we can turn back time or erase everything we've experienced.
I wrote it because I believe we can rediscover some of what we've lost.
The ability to love without constantly expecting disappointment.
The joy of appreciating life's simplest moments.
The willingness to forgive.
And the faith to believe that tomorrow can still hold something wonderful.
“Back To Where We Started” isn't really about going backward.
It's about finding our way forward without forgetting the innocence, love, and purpose we began with.
Because sometimes the person we're trying so hard to become isn't nearly as far away as we think.
Sometimes we simply need to remember who we were before the world got loud.
Ric Carollo