Past suffering does not absolve you from future suffering. If only it were so.
You may have been lost for a long time. Then one day, you discover where you want to go – but that doesn’t mean you’re there. You may be many miles away. You’ve walked so far already, so it doesn’t seem fair that now you have to walk to far again.
But this is the way of things. Sometimes you can take past work and convert it towards your present or future goals. Most of the time, you can’t.
If you use that as an excuse to not walk, you stay lost.
The Opportunity Machine 