Was it really always better in the past?
Gas prices have been at an all time high. Even in the state of Indiana which is a pretty living wage friendly state, it had floated close to $4/gal for awhile. It’s during times like these where I hear many people saying it was so much better in the past and everything just seems to get harder. It’s not only gas that makes us feel this way, it’s prices for milk, groceries in general and even just communicating. It seems that we are forever stuck in a state where we look back at the past with disappointment because it’ll never be as good as the past.
Is it just me or is there something wrong with thinking like that? I mean I certainly get it because from time to time I think that the past was easier. Growing up, it just seemed like a dollar could go a lot farther and there were a lot less problems to worry about.
However, if I really think about it, was the past really that much better? It’s really hard to say because there are a lot of variables that go into it. For example, you’re in a different state of your life than the past. Things might have changed and because of that you might have had to make a lot of different and potentially difficult choices. I know that I really can’t compare my 25 year old life to my 16 year old life. I was in totally different situations and expectations were a lot different especially since back then I hadn’t graduated college yet.
I don’t think we should be saying that the past was better. I think we should be thinking about what lessons we learned in the past and how what problems and challenges we have right now and what we can learn from them. If there’s anything I’ve learned in life is that you can’t change the past. You can’t change what you said or what you didn’t say to a person. What you can change and control is your outlook on life in the present and in the future.
Given this thought, I reject the notion that it was always better in the past. It’s all in your perspective and I always want to think that it’s always going to be better now and in the future. Live life to the fullest so that you never even think that it was better in the past!
~The Lermz
