Part of me likes to look back on the good old days once in a while.
Going to birthday parties at bowling alleys and arcades, coming home on the weekends after a long day of school, going to the theatre with a large bucket of popcorn to see the newest Disney movie; sometimes I wish I could find a way to travel back in time to those moments.
The closest I can get nowadays is playing video games on my old consoles. I mean, who doesn’t want to relive the excitement of hitting a home run in Wii Sports baseball or defeating Bowser in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which I actually never managed to do.
While these memories give me a rush nothing else can, I know it isn’t healthy to always linger on what used to be.
Now that I’m older, I realize how much time has passed me by. How do I feel like I’m 12 even though I’m 20? It doesn’t make any sense!
It feels like only a year ago when I walked the stage at high school graduation, but it’s been almost three years. And even though it’s fun to look back at all the pictures, every time I do, I keep worrying that I haven’t been living in the moment enough.
I can choose to worry about it for the rest of my life, or I can do something about it. Just because I’m no longer a child doesn’t mean I can’t make more memories.
Reminiscing on the past is cool, but being in the present is so much better.
Since my hometown is less than an hour away from campus, I can easily drive home on the weekends and see my parents. And knowing that my desired career path can take me anywhere, I’m taking advantage of every single second.
Whenever I get a text from my mom asking if I want to come along to an event, my immediate answer is yes. In the last few years, I’ve gone to weddings, concerts, musicals, sporting events, river cruises and even a quinceañera.
But why stop there? I still have two semesters left after this one and plenty of time to hang out with my family. We could go to Bradley games, take some mini-vacations or even see comedy shows – things we haven’t had an opportunity to do in a long time.
If I’m being honest, yes, I do want to relive my younger years. But if I keep wishing for this, I’m going to miss out on what I’m doing right now.
So the next time you’re looking through your old yearbooks or playing on your childhood gaming console, go ahead and feel the nostalgia. It’s never a bad thing to revisit your old memories, as long as you make new ones while you can.
