Thinking of Yester-Year

“You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time.”

I can’t help but think back at the best times of my life. Life is definitely a rollercoaster ride, full of ups and downs, full of memories – some we remember fondly, others we just think of as a blur in time. I don’t know about you, but especially when I’m down, I like to reminisce on the good times that have passed, and pathetically wish to be able to go back and experience them all over again.

Is it pathetic? Or is it a bit inevitable, to yearn for the good old days. Even though what you have going on in the present is quite good, there’s just something about wanting to go back - after all “Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.”

Some may say it’s not beneficial to be stuck in the past, to try and do it all over again. They say those times have gone, and it is now time to focus on the future. We have our memories to take us back like a little time machine, but if we wish to move forward then we have to focus on our dreams. Is it possible that both these suggestions might be slightly wrong? Isn’t the present the most important phase of time? Isn’t that the one thing we should be focused on?

There’s nothing wrong with feeling a bit nostalgic ever once in a while, we wish to be young again, to re-live those zany adventures (however big or small), we were having the time of our lives and we shouldn’t stop ourselves from remembering. What we should be careful of is getting stuck in the past. Trying to actually, literally, re-live those moments when you know they were good then but wouldn’t really work out right now. It’s also not such a great idea to get lost in dreams, if we think too much about the future we tend to lose sight of the present – and thus won’t be able to acquire even more great memories, other great times in which we can think back on and say – what a great day that was, what an amazing vacation, so much fun just hanging out, learning, travelling, taking risks, going to the beach, drinks with my friends… and the list keeps adding on and on.

Like they say, “a moment lasts only seconds, but a memory lasts a lifetime”. Smile about the good times that have passed, learn from the bad ones, keep pushing towards your dreams, and always do your best to live in the now – otherwise you won’t have any memories to be able to reminisce on.