This article has been submitted by Inika Charles for the CLATGyan Blog Post Writing Competition. If you think this article is a good read, ‘Like’ this article on Facebook (the button is at the bottom of this piece) or post a comment using the ‘comments’ section below.
Nostalgia always results in a realisation that everything has to eventually end, making one wonder as to why we do anything in life and whether there is any purpose to anything that we do. Maybe there isn’t. But that still doesn’t stop us, now does it? Nostalgia is a funny feeling; it’s different every single time. But somehow, a feeling of regret always lingers. You want to turn time around, go back and create a time machine, stretch out things that seemed to last only for milliseconds instead of days. It doesn’t seem fair, for life as you know it to be suddenly snatched out of your hands and replaced with something unfamiliar, something new. And when it happens, you’re suddenly displaced, with no sure footing, ripped out of your comfort zone.
So as my last year of school comes to an end and I worry about college applications and entrance exams preparations, I think about how prepared I really am. Am I ready to face this huge competitive world just yet? Am I ready to leave behind 12 years of beautiful memories and face a new life? Am I ready to wake up every morning and never put on another uniform? I don’t know. Everyone said school was the best part of our lives. And until now, I fully agree. It seems surreal to wake up the next morning and not have to run to make the school bus, or worry about having done my homework.
Nostalgia can make you realise things that were always there, waiting to be discovered, but never really were until it was too late. Letting an opportunity pass you by is the most regret you could ever feel. Having something right in front of you then watching it being taken away or just grasping for something that seemed to exist is always painful. Sometimes, it all seems like an illusion. Everything that we believed in, everything we trusted in somehow just ceases to exist and you’re stuck with a sick feeling of reminiscence. On occasion, we seem to be living in the past, hiding in an imaginary world of made up comfort that only exists in our minds. We need to crawl out from under the blanket, and embrace the present, make new memories that also last forever.
It is a feeling of disappointment, a feeling that everything in life has to ultimately end, with an unavoidable feeling of remorse. So everything we do, every action, association or phase of ours will undeniably come to an end, and something new will take its place. So is there a valid reason as to why we do what we do? Everything we begin has to eventually come to an end whether we like it or not. Therefore, does it make sense to build up something, putting in all of our efforts just to see it torn down and to start all over again? If you ask me, it really doesn’t. But that’s the way of life. Did Einstein complain about starting his research anew? He must have. But he did anyway, didn’t he? Moving on is an essential process in life. Without it, we cannot succeed. As one phase of our lives finishes, another begins. And although there will always be a slight feeling of grief for letting go of the past, we learn to embrace the present and not fear the future.
Why should we move on though? What if you don’t want to? What if you like the way things are? Shouldn’t you have the right to stay if you want? Why is everything always snatched away; be it the thumb you used to suck on when you were small, small toys as and when you grow up, memories of times you can never re-live and then eventually everyone around you that you ever cared about? Is the solution that one should always live in the moment? Be ignorant of these facts and simply stop worrying? This ideology has been repeatedly adopted by many over the years; take Bob Marley’s “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright” as an example.
Makes you wonder doesn’t it? Hell it makes me wonder as well – Whether I should have actually sat down and spent time on writing down how I feel, and whether I wasted your time making you read it, and still I don’t stop, and neither do you.
So what do you take away after reading these 800 words? Nothing you didn’t already know, maybe a little perspective at the most. So what can one do to solve this problem of Nostalgia? Other than reading a few inspiring quotes and creating some sort of psychological shield in our little heads so that we can ignore the ticking time bomb that is our reality, I don’t know.
If you find out however, do let me know! But then again, is it worth your time to find out?
Wonderful!!!!