NOSTALGIA

So there’s a song that goes, ‘I refuse to look back thinking days were better just because they’re younger days ‘.

Now how many of us can actually say this and mean it? Eventually we all give in. All it takes is a boring class, bad food, a fight, too many assignments or just plain boredom. The show begins. Get the popcorn ready. We’re reliving the Greatest Hits So Far.

Days when you weren’t so busy all the time. Days when you had ‘real’ friends to hang out with. Days when you didn’t have to eat dal-flavored water for all three meals. Days when your life was all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns actually existed.

Well, it’s about time to roll the credits.

Nostalgia, to put it simply, is a yearning for the good ol’ days. But did we ever stop to think if those days were really as good as we make them out to be?

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to give you an existential crisis. I don’t want to see you get into the fetal position in a corner and drown yourself in your tears( as entertaining as that might be ). But please, do question how reliable your memory is. The time you reminisce of, was it, in its entirety, a continuous state of bliss? Were there no bad days? And on those days, did you not think of yet another better past? It’s a seemingly never ending cycle, but it teaches you a lesson: the good comes with the bad and vice-versa.

Want another pop culture reference? Think about 500 Days of Summer. The entire movie, he’s hung up on this girl, playing back all of their good moments again and again until it drives him crazy. Until his friend, the little girl reminds him to think about the bad moments as well.

My point? It’s good to get nostalgic once in a while. It makes you pick up the phone and call up an old friend. Only don’t let yourself get too indulgent in nostalgia.

Thinking too much about all those special yesterdays and comparing them with today will only make you feel worse. The best way to relive a great past is to recreate it in the present. So go ahead and eat your dal- flavored water. Eat it with a smile. You never know, today might be one of those good ol’ days you’ll wanna go back to in the future.