Of Thank Yous and People!

You ask any random person on the roadside about happiness, and the first thing they come up with ‘always live in present remembering past hurts you and thinking about future depresses you…’ and this lecture would go on & on. This has become a part of our belief system.

I don’t know who, when and why taught us to avoid going down memory lanes as if they are evil, as if it weren’t us but someone else lived them. We bury memories deep down our heart with a vow to never look back and pretend to be content with whatever life offers, but we fool ourselves in many contexts. Some of us, I think, are too afraid to face their own-younger, energetic & optimistic self. Some are ashamed of unfulfilled dreams, some can’t take the overwhelming emotion, and most of us believe memories are but sad.

The most beautiful things are not associated with money; they are memories and moments. If you don’t celebrate those, they can pass you by  – Alek Wek

Sometimes you get to travel old routes with new people, the experience to my surprise is amazingly exciting, it brings back all the memories, all the vows you made, all the dreams and goals you had set for yourself, all the promises you made, all the energy you contained for unseen future, all the positivity you possessed and all the effort you were putting in back then. There were people who mattered the most, who used to be your strength, who used to be your source of inspiration, who helped you become whoever you are today. Who aren’t there anymore for you. But they were a part of your life, a part that has shaped you.

Things not always go well, people always come & go in our lives. You don’t part ways on good terms its natural, ego and all. We seek refuge in burying everything deep down our heart and never recall or relive it. We all have some great times in our past, we all have met great people in our life, no matter how hard we try, how deep we bury them, an unexpected drive on a route you’ve been avoiding over time, a pleasant dinner at a restaurant you once loved, date on calendar that takes you back to a chaotic day after missing a birthday wish, an archived email or message, a Facebook ‘on this day’ notification, smell of a scent someone used to wear or gifted you, lyrics of a song, or even a phrase brings them back to life.

You get mixed feelings, feel great to have them in your life, feel ashamed for abandoning them, feel scared of your little secret being known to the world.

We are ungrateful people, we long for happiness yet we never relive best moments of our life, we seek motivation and inspiration yet we never look back to where we started, we disconnect ourselves from the past and feel no sense of achievement that how far we’ve come, we lack sense of belonging, we forget the purpose we put all the effort for, we don’t say thank you to the people who mattered!

So, thank you everyone who ever mattered, here’s for every moment I enjoyed in the past, every little fun I had, every little thing that helped me become who I am today, I cannot dissociate myself from my old-self!

Here’s an advice, take out a moment, appreciate whoever is around you, say thank you to whoever mattered in your life, relive the best moments of your life, forget about broken dreams and unfulfilled promises they give you sense of purpose!

A day will come when we all depart from here and get to see the movie of our life, I don’t want my movie to be full of regrets & oh-I-forgot‘s,  above all, I don’t want my movie to be an alien walk down the memory lane there.

Doug Larson said,

Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days..