Stories you read when you're the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you'll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.
"A wall painting is a conversation between the space and the viewer."
Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.
In the wild, there are no second chances. You have to get it right the first time.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.